The music labels apparently aren't satisfied with how hated they are; they are going after Usenet now:

Major record labels - Arista, Atlantic, BMG, Capitol, Caroline, Elektra, Interscope, LaFace, Maverick, Sony BMG, UMG, Virgin, Warner Bros. and Zomba have filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Usenet.com.

According to Billboard, the complaint filed in the District Court in New York states that Usenet.com provides access to millions of copyright infringing files and, with a nod towards the Grokster Decision, apparently “touts its service as a haven for those seeking pirated content.”

Usenet "encourages" infringement in the same way that the net in general does - it allows arbitrary content to be passed around. If Grokster applies to Usenet based on tunneling, then it applies to all of the net based on ssh tunneling. In their ideal world, everything would be broadcast only - and that's just not the world we live in.

Technorati Tags: law, stupidity