 "Maybe they don't understand that teenagers work minimum-wage
jobs, so why should we buy a CD with two songs we like on it when we can
burn it for free?" said 15-year-old Melissa of Boca Raton, Fla., who
downloads songs, music videos and movies a few times a
month.
To curb that kind of attitude, two
entertainment factions '” music and movies '” have taken very different
tacks.
The Recording Industry Association of
America's "bad cop" style relies on fear, hoping the possibility of jail
time and fines will scare downloaders into submission. The Motion Picture
Association of America, on the other hand, has appealed to people's sense
of morality by creating ads featuring behind-the-scenes employees like set
painters who tell audiences how piracy drains their
livelihood.
"It is trying to communicate that, a)
It's wrong, and b) You're hurting people, everyday people just like you
who are trying to pay their bills and raise their families," said Peter
Chernin, president and chief operating officer of News Corp., whose
Twentieth Century Fox (search) studio produced the ads.
But their harsh tactics come across as
impractical to many people raised in the information age.
 "The lawsuits are both futile and counterproductive," said Fred
von Lohmann, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
"Not only will they not stop file sharing, but they'll alienate
customers."
Meanwhile, von Lohmann said, the
music industry hasn't adapted to the new generation's music listening
habits: The file-swapping Web sites' wide selection, flexibility and free
tunes make downloading a virtually irresistible alternative. "You
can call it stealing all you like, but when 60 million people are doing
it, we need to change the law," said von Lohmann of record labels. Under
current copyright law, piracy is illegal.
Von Lohmann's organization, which is
trying to persuade Congress to pass new legislation, believes the solution
is charging a fee in exchange for a compulsory license to download and
copy any files.
Still, the affected industries remain
confident that they'll sway swappers. | 
