Disconnection threats will not stop P2P

I think a physical disconnection and a 3 month black spot where you are barred from reconnection to any domestic DSL BT wholesaler. Could be more effective. Especially the black spot :)

Or Peter, how about (in a smarter world) have everything digital for free (or at minimal costs), and only pay for physical things, huh? My 1's and 0's are mine to distribute if I want, mmkthnxbye.

The file sharers are not really the "lost money" that the RIAA is looking for. They are small potatoes. Go after the real pirates who are redistributing for $$$$$. Doing anything other than going after the real pirates will continue to piss off your paying customers.

Think of it like a fisherman. Does the fisherman throw out the net for one medium sized fish? No that is a waste of his time and effort. The good fisherman only throws the net when he can catch enough fish to fill up the whole net in one throw.

If I buy sheet music (which is someones intellectual property) it does not stop me from me from playing and or singing that music in public or lending that sheet music to someone else for them to play or sing. My view is that it is the same for the record industry, they have sold you the music in the form of a disc so therefore it is yours to do with what you like. In the past the record industry have riped off the performers and the public but scream blue murder when the public p2p because they will miss their rake off. If the cash was was going to the performer only I think p2p people would not mind a small charge for their downloading. I personally do not download as I prefer high quality uncompressed recordings of music played over high quality audio equipment. Anyway I thought the whole idea of the Internet was to transmit the peoples thoughts and ideas without restriction or censorship. Or am I naive

Incidentally, I was just getting out of Mass on a Sunday when I got a random phone call from an unlisted number. I picked up but had to wait 3 seconds before the call center lackey was connected to me. Turns out it was Comcast and he was calling to inform me that I had gone over the bandwidth limit for November. I played stupid and he confirmed that the limit was 250GB and I had used 500GB. Then came the ultimatum. If I went over again I'd be disconnected. I said OK and hung up. I didn't like it and I followed my philosophy of "No love received is no love returned". I called up AT&T and decided to sign up for their U-verse 200 package. On Jan 26th, I'll be converting over. If my ISP is going to threaten me in this bad economic condition and under serious competition by the likes of AT&T, I figure they seriously deserve to loose my business to an ISP that has no bandwidth limit(currently). For reference, I think I might have just skated under the 250GB limit in December and I haven't gotten a call from them this month. Though, knowing that I'm switching at the end of the month, I'm transferring sooo much right now that I'm sure they'd be true to their word and I wouldn't be a customer in February. So, I got threatened and I took my business elsewhere. They loose enough money on this policy, hopefully they'll abandon it. BTW, I live in San Jose, CA.

If people are allowed to listen to music on the radio for free, why not be able to listen to it on the Internet for free?

All the recording companies need to do is charge sites and applications a broadcast licensing fee similar to what they charge radio stations but probably more due to the greater volume of music that is broadcast...

They are stupid to have not realized this a decade ago when the big Napster case was going on. They would actually be making more money than they are now if they won't so greedy about the whole thing...

If my ISP ever threatens to disconnect me for downloading stuff, then I'll just go to a different ISP...

That's not only "according to a recent survey", it's common sense. Think about a deprived crack addict, (s)he'll find his crack no matter what.

IF THE ISP STOPS YOUR INTERNET THER ARE MODEMS YOU CAN BUY THAT CHANGES THE MAC ADDRESS AND CAN NOT B TRACED AND ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS PLUG IT IN TO YOUR CABLE AND YOU WILL HAVE FREE INTERNET
AND THEY CAN NEVER TRACE YOU HA HA HA
GO TO EHAY AND SEE THE MODEMS FOR SALE THAT STEAL INTERNET SO GET LOST RIAA