Record industry sues Web site operators

The recording industry, which has been plagued by piracy of its own in the analog form -- illegal tape recordings -- has acknowledged its growing new digital problem quite loudly, filing three lawsuits last week against the operators of Web sites reportedly pirating and distributing copyrighted songs free over the Internet.

"We are serving notice to other sites that we are going to vigorously protect our copyrights," said Hillary Rosen, the president of the Recording Industry Association of America, which filed the suit on behalf of its members.

The Internet has often been likened to an enormous -- if not out- of-control -- copying machine. With the click of a mouse, thieves can copy what they like almost instantly. And in contrast to a photocopy, the information and the copy quality never degrade. "Other owners of intellectual property -- the recording industry, the movie industry, the photo people -- are finding themselves with the same problem the software industry has had for years," said Bob Kruger, vice president of piracy enforcement for the Business Software Alliance in Washington. Now that most music is available in a digital format, hackers and music fans alike can easily post songs to the Internet. No matter how many times they are copied, the quality of the sound remains consistent and the song remains consistently free. "The recording industry has always been able to protect itself through the argument that there is a degradation in quality from one generation to the next," Kruger said. "But now there is absolutely no difference between the original and the copy -- you have removed the disadvantage."

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