Ding Dong The Witch is Dead

Which old witch? How about RIAA lawsuits over Peer to Peer file sharing. From the Wall Street Journal via Michael Geist comes word that the RIAA, which has sued more than 35,000 people since 2003 has decided to abandon it's strategy of suing their best customers. This doesn't mean that they are gone, or that they have decided to be nice:

"Instead, the Recording Industry Association of America said it plans to try an approach that relies on the cooperation of Internet-service providers. The trade group said it has hashed out preliminary agreements with major ISPs under which it will send an email to the provider when it finds a provider's customers making music available online for others to take.

Depending on the agreement, the ISP will either forward the note to customers, or alert customers that they appear to be uploading music illegally, and ask them to stop. If the customers continue the file-sharing, they will get one or two more emails, perhaps accompanied by slower service from the provider. Finally, the ISP may cut off their access altogether."

But a new ISP is less expensive than legal fees! It is also unlikely that most of the RIAA's major clients will survive the current economic crisis.