Says EarthStation5: "Resistance is futile."

Says EarthStation5: “Resistance is futile.”
by Mike Madias, Clinical Sociologist and Columnist

"Slice-o-Life"

August 28, 2003

Columnist Mike Madias According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and their accountants at Pricewaterhouse-Coopers LLP; worldwide shipments of compact disks of music are down by 9 percent in 2002. In some localities, like the metro Detroit area, the statistics are even more dismal. A major record store chain reports a sales decline of 25 percent this year. And if customers don’t come in and buy hit CDs, they won’t browse through the clearance bin and scoop up some of the stores’ overstocks or buy other merchandise. So in general, the independent record dealers are going broke. The RIAA is blaming this industry decline on college kids. It is spending lots of money to nail an undergrad or two, and scare the rest.

They must think that doing this will get people to come back to the stores where there are stacks and stacks of wicked wax. They have been successful to a certain degree. Downloads on the Kazzaa website, the major location to go to pick up music illegally, have dropped from six and a half million in June of this year, to just above five million hits as of August. But that strategy is not likely to work in the long run.

Conservative estimates are that if the RIAA were to sue everybody who downloads tracks from the internet it would take them more than 2000 years to do all the legal work involved in busting little Joe College and his buddies. Little Joe College might not vote, but his parents do. And when daddy has to put out big bucks in legal fees to keep the RIAA from suing his kid, he is likely to vote his pocket book. And he is likely to vote Republican.

So it is not surprising that a Republican Senator from Minnesota, Norm Coleman, pounced all over the RIAA. Coleman is chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee of Investigations. He demanded that the RIAA give up the names of over 900 subpoenas related to suing college kids. It turns out Senator Coleman is a Napster-Kazzaa user himself. The Kansas City Star reported that the RIAA was backing off on it’s attacks. Cary Sherman, speaking for the RIAA, issued a statement reassuring Senator Colman that it was not going after the small music pirates, only the big guys. And now, my friends, the RIAA is having deal with the “mother of all Napster clones.”

It is not enough that the RIAA is trying to take on a Republican senator, they are also taking on the Palestinians. Yes, there is a Napster/Kazzaa clone website operating from inside of Palestine, called “Earthstation5.” This group of internet activists are waging jihad on the RIAA and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). So not only can you get music downloaded, you can also download movies. “[U.S. copyright] laws and policies have absolutely no meaning to us here in Palestine . . . there is nothing that you can do to stop us". Says the group’s president Ras Kabir.” Eartrhstation5 is designed to protect Joe College, and Senator Coleman from the probing eyes of the RIAA. "File-sharers world-wide are learning that our Earthstation 5 software hides the identities of its users and their IP addresses so they can now freely share their music and movies online without the threat of a lawsuit from the RIAA or the MPAA," said Kabir.

Earthstation5 has even lifted its motto from U.S. television. Like the villains on Star Trek, Earth Station 5 declares that, “The next revolution in file sharing is upon you. Resistance is futile and we are now in control. " Earthstation5 is located in the refugee camp in Jenin (a scene of many a battle between the Israeli army and the Palestinian Liberation Front.) It has a branch office along the Gaza strip. According to the Earthstation5 management, “Our group is made up of many people, Jordanians, Palestinians, Indians, Americans, Russians and Israelis.

Some of us are Jewish, some Christians, some Hindus and other of us are Muslim. Believe it or not, we all love and respect each other. “We all work and play together. Our families on many occasions eat at the same dinner table. We trust each other and are very close friends with each other. As a group, the most important thing in our life is our children, our families and loved ones and of course our friends.” I pray that this is a true statement. I have faith in people, and I distrust political leaders and parties. It is a complex world. Sometimes it is hard to tell the enemies from the friends. The Earth Station 5 software is free and can be downloaded at http://www.es5.com. ***

Shalom

Mike

And good night Mr. Freed, where ever you are. ***

Photo of Mike Madias courtesy of the author

A clinical sociologist living in the Metropolitan Detroit area, Mike's work has appeared in The Detroit News. He may be reached by e-mail at DetroitHardball@hotmail.com.