Complacency Is Dangerous In Anti-piracy Fight

In less than two years, the worldwide music industry has made much progress in combating online music piracy. But for all the steps taken, the industry is at the beginning of a decades-long journey that may have no end.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the Recording Industry Assn. of America (RIAA), electronics manufacturers, music publishers, the U.S. government, and others all should be commended for steps taken so far, including:
€ The coordinated global strategy against music piracy that teams recording companies and associations worldwide.
€ RIAA successes in reducing Internet piracy in the U.S., including its Soundbyting Campaign and automated Web crawler that ferrets out infringers.
€ The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which gave new power to the RIAA to trace and stop U.S. infringers.
€ The Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI)-a product of 120 companies, music publishers, and other organizations working together-that produced an open global standard.
€ The cooperation of major Internet players, evident at the recent Internet World Conference.
However, protection of the economic rights of artists, composers, lyricists, record companies, and music publishers is caught in cultural resistance, a technological arms race, and diplomatic and legal complexity that will not end soon. The industry cannot relax its vigilance or assume that it has stopped pirates. Like it or not, enforcing music copyright law in the digital age is a struggle that has no quick fix.
The key challenge that the industry