Biting the hand that feeds you (Score 1)

The recent lawsuit against four college students by the RIAA is a damaging way to usher in a positive digital future for artists, corporation, organizations, and their stakeholders. It is especially self-defeating for the RIAA to attack the very age group (8-18 year old) that will be the most technologically literate, and most voracious digital consumers of entertainment content in the next decade as they move from student to knowledge-worker and also knowledge-consumer. Under 21-youth are not the passive consumers that their older siblings were. They are 3-WAY stakeholders in the phenomena of digital media - they create content, they architect efficient methods of diffusing content, and they ultimately consume content. The question is will the RIAA continue to punish its most ambitious consumer demographic and future customer base? Or will the RIAA realize they can indeed lead and shape youth positively and profitably with new models of collaborative commerce rather than FOLLOW with locked down litigation.