On The Warpath 向文件分享软件宣战

　　The music industry takes aim at file-sharing.音乐产业瞄准文件分享

　　Megan Dickinson is a lot like most other 15-year-olds: she likes music and she likes computers. So when she got her hands on file-sharing software, it wasn’t long before she’d compiled a personal library of over 1,000 songs on her hard drive.

　　Unlike most other 15-year-olds, however, Megan is being sued. Record companies tracked her down through her Internet service provider, and say she has to pay a $750 fine for each song she downloaded. At the end of the day, total damages, including legal fees, could be close to a million dollars.

　　After years of losing sales to digital piracy, the record companies are fighting back. Not only are they going after the creators of file sharing software, but they’re also putting the squeeze on individuals who’ve downloaded songs from the Internet without permission. While the number of lawsuits is still tiny, and users outside the US aren’t yet being targeted, the threat of a million dollar fine is causing music fans to think twice before downloading the latest song.

　　The record companies are also trying to sabotage the file sharing services they can’t shut down. Download the latest Britney Spears song and there’s a good chance that you’ll just end up with three minutes of noise. These “decoy” files are put up by the record companies to make it harder to find the authentic versions. The idea is that, if finding songs becomes too time-consuming, people might be willing to go back to the record stores to pay for the music.

　　But critics say the record companies are risking a backlash as music fans take offense at the heavy-handed treatment. Rather than treat downloaders as criminals, they say, record companies need to treat them as potential customers. Otherwise, the pirates will just come up with ever more clever ways of getting around the law.

　　梅根•迪金森就像多数15岁的孩子一样：她喜欢音乐和计算机。因此当她接触到文件分享软件，她很快地就在自己的硬盘上汇编出一个拥有一千多首歌曲的个人图书馆。

　　然而，不像其他15岁孩子的是，梅根被起诉了。唱片公司通过网络服务商追踪到她，而且说她必须为她所下载的歌曲，每一首各支付750美元的罚款。结果，包括律师费在内，赔偿金总额可能接近100万美元。

　　多年来，由于数字盗版使销售业绩下滑，唱片公司正在发起反击。它们不只追踪创造文件分享软件的人，同时也向未经许可就从网络下载歌曲的个人施压。虽然法律诉讼的案件数量还很少，而且美国以外的使用者还没被盯上，但罚款数百万美元的威胁，已经让乐迷下载最新歌曲前会再考虑一下。

　　唱片公司也试着破坏它们无法关闭的文件分享服务。如果下载小甜甜布兰妮最新的歌曲，很有可能你最后只下载到3分钟的噪音，这些权充“诱饵”的文件是唱片公司放上去的，目的是让真正的版本不容易找到。这个想法的初衷是，如果找歌太花时间，大家就可能愿意回到唱片商店去花钱买音乐。

　　但是评论家说，唱片公司正冒着引发强烈反对的风险，因为乐迷会因遭受强制手段的对待而感到生气。他们说，与其将下载的人视为罪犯，唱片公司不如将他们视为潜在的顾客。不然的话，盗版者只会想出更聪明的办法规避法律制裁。