Pirates

It seems internet piracy may not be as damaging to the music and video industry as had been assumed. Hollywood and major music producers want the makers of file-sharing networks punished for making it easy to violate copyright, even though the makers point out these networks have legitimate uses, and the blame for criminal use belongs, properly, on the users. A report just released, though, shows that these networks may not be impacting the music industry as heavily as commonly believed.

A report just released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), meanwhile, says that file-sharing networks are not the sole culprits in the recording industry's problems, and that they could become effective music distribution channels.

"The report said it is difficult to establish a causal connection between the rise of file sharing and a drop in music sales. While the music industry's revenues fell 20 percent from 1999 to 2003, other factors, such as illegal CD copying, might have played a role in the decline, the OECD said," according to an article that ran on Wired.com today.