The futility of RIANZ

When you blow a quarter of a million dollars to ‘nail’ a dozen ‘offenders’ and secure a whopping six hundy fine against the most egregious example, you should know something is seriously wrong.

That much should hopefully become painfully apparent to RIANZ. The deeper problem it faces is the archaic business model which it is failing to protect.

The cat is out the bag, the genie is out the bottle: stopping internet file exchanges is about as likely as preventing the tides from going in and out.

It just ain’t gonna happen.

Of course, it is exactly this sort of thing that got New Zealand’s most famous megaman in trouble, too.

Kim Dotcom’s Megaupload facilitated the ‘free’ exchange of copyrighted materials, with one little exception: he was able to make a couple hundred million dollars out of the exercise.

Our advice to RIANZ (and RIAA?) Stop wasting time and money.

Go back to Hollywood and tell the dinosaurs there (who make us think of Herb Myerson, somehow) that they can still make heaps of cash, but that their business model has to change. Content distribution and control as you know it is over.

Analogue gives way to digital. The internet changes all and will remain free.

Get with it - or keep producing the content we all want, while standing on the sidelines watching the likes of ‘grey’ distributors like Dotcom getting fat on your labours.

Over to you.