PCWorld quotes the EFF on the real problem with the RIAA's "fight the future" theory of operations:

Von Lohmann also thinks the suits may hurt legitimate companies while leaving the real content pirates untouched. "I think it's fair to say that copyright threats from entertainment industries are exerting a serious chilling effect on several companies that are trying to do the right thing, while having little impact on offshore companies that are more adventurous," von Lohmann says. "In other words, the innovation that should be fueling our economy is now fueling someone else's."

The RIAA (and the MPAA, for that matter) are fighting a war they can't win. They are busily irritating their real and potential customers - either suing them, or making life difficult for them - while the real pirates sail along unimpaired. The amount of inertia in that business is astonishing - the good times for all the do-nothing middle-men are over, and it's time for the labels to accept that fact and get on with their lives. They can't (or won't) do that though, and are simply making things suck for the rest of us on their way down.

Think about it - when you legally purchase a DVD, you have the devil's own time trying to copy that content to arbitrary devices on which you might want to watch it - your laptop's hard drive, your iPod (etc, etc). As you curse, the overseas pirate operations are busy churning out copies of the same DVD for sale though. The content owners have made war on the mice, while the lions are busy roaming the savannah. If it didn't impact me directly, it would be hilarious.

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