Free Software Foundation tears MPAA a new one in Grokster brief

The Free Software Foundation and New Yorkers for Fair Use have filed a brief in Grokster, EFF's Supreme Court case to establish the legality of P2P networks. Eben Moglen, the author of the brief, really lights into the RIAA and MPAA -- he's a fantastic writer:

At the heart of Petitioners' argument is an arrogant and unreasonable claim--even if made to the legislature empowered to determine such a general issue of social policy--that the Internet must be designed for the convenience of their business model, and to the extent that its design reflects other concerns, the Internet should be illegal.

Petitioners' view of what constitutes the foundation of copyright law in the digital age is as notable for its carefully-assumed air of technical naivete as for the audacity with which it identifies their financial interest with the purpose of the entire legal regime.

Despite petitioners' apocalyptic rhetoric, this case follows a familiar pattern in the history of copyright: incumbent rights-holders have often objected to new technologies of distribution that force innovation on the understandably reluctant monopolist.

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