RIAA is making a blod step by suing usenet.com saying it compares to Napster, Kazaa, P2P sharing files networks.
"Defendant provides essentially the same functionality that P2P services such as Napster, Aimster, Grokster and Kazaa did (prior to being enjoined by the federal courts) -- knowingly providing the site and facilities for users to upload and download copyrighted works -- except that defendant goes further than even the P2P services to facilitate and encourage copyright infringement by its users," said the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
"Defendant customizes its service to make it as convenient and seamless as possible for subscribers to distribute and obtain copyrighted music without authorization and without paying for that music."
"Like P2P services, Defendant business model depends on the massive infringement that it facilitates. Defendant makes its money by charging users a monthly subscription fee for access to the newsgroups Usenet.com offers."
The suit, comes two weeks after the RIAA won its first pirating jury trial targeting an individual. A Duluth, Minnesota jury ordered Jammie Thomas to pay the RIAA $222,000 for pirating 24 songs on the Kazaa system in 2005.
The usenet.com case marks a dramatic shift in the RIAA's recent litigation strategy -- targeting an alleged facilitator of copyright theft instead of an individual pirate. The RIAA has sued more than 20,000 people on allegations of copyright theft.
The usenet network is a global, distributed message-board network that was created in the pre-internet days, when it relied on dialup modems for distribution. Now it's carried over the internet. Usenet.com, of Fargo, North Dakota, is one company that redistributes the usenet feed for a subscription fee.
