Verizon (the ISP involved in the case) are appealing. From The Register:
"In a statement Sarah B Deutsch, VP and associate general counsel for Verizon said: "The court's decision has troubling ramifications for consumers, service providers and the growth of the Internet. It opens the door for anyone who makes a mere allegation of copyright infringement to gain complete access to private subscriber information without the due process protections afforded by the courts. This case will have a chilling effect on private communications, such as e-mail, surfing the Internet or the sending of files between private parties.""

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I think this is a good thing, and that it'll hopefully encourage bands and labels to offer legitimate "taster" downloads

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What does that have to do with file-sharing though? If anything, if they're legitimate then it would be in their interests to encourage such downloads to be shared on these networks so as to get as wide an audience as possible.

I very rarely download music from the net anyway (except for streaming radio stations), so on a personal level, I'm not that bothered, but I really don't believe that music sharing is as big a problem for the music industry as they'd have us believe. Meanwhile they're trying to use it as an excuse to destroy our fair-use rights to music that we have purchased.

(Edited by In a State of Dan 22/01/2003 18:17)

The music industry used the same excuse for decline in record sales when tapes came out. I personally never buy singles as they are a waste of money, for the price of two singles and a bit you can buy the albums, which is a) where all the money comes from and b) represents much better value.
The music and film industries would be much better off looking at their own companies if they wish to reduce piracy, rather than persecuting the file sharing networks, and internet users in general. The sources for most of the pirated stuff comes via dodgy blokes in the distribution chain anyway..

Certainly, the music industry is very quick to bleat about Lost Profits (no pun intended!). But I do think their claims are wildly exaggerated. Every time someone down loads a piece of music it is not necessarily a lost sale. Indeed, personally, I am much more likely to make a purchase if I know that I will like the product!

I have bought a number of albums on this basis- that's sales the music industry wouldn't have made if it were not for "file sharing".

I respect the right for everyone to be able to profit from their labours and I wouldn't wish to deprive an artist from their dues... but this just smacks of paranoid delusions

(Edited by Rally 23/01/2003 00:05)