RSS feedsNot everyone knows this but, by now, the richest man in the world should be a Brit. In the late 1980s, and working from a cluttered laboratory in the Swiss Alps, London-born scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the world wide web.
The countless billions lost, and massive fortunes made, during the dotcom boom years of the late ’90s would not have occurred without his brilliant vision to create a network where research papers could be shared.
Why is this important? Late last month, one of the most significant court hearings of recent times finally came to an end in the MGM v Grokster case. The result sent shockwaves through the technology world.
The landmark case, heard in the US Supreme Court, resulted in the judges unanimously siding with MGM's argument that Grokster, a file-sharing software maker, should be held legally responsible for consumers that use its software to share copyrighted material illegally. By producing software that could help users download pirated material, Grokster had committed a mortal sin in the eyes of the entertainment industry.
Although similar to Napster – the original file-sharing technology that clogged up most company networks when their staff spent all day downloading music – Grokster is different. This difference is proof of the traditional business world’s inability to fully grasp the idea of a world wide web.
Napster was shut down because it owned servers that acted as a central database of the hard drive locations of pirated music that could be downloaded for free by anyone who used their (free) software. It was a clear-cut case. But Grokster is far more difficult to call. The US judges unanimously sided with MGM, not because the software could be used for illegal purposes but because they felt the company was deliberately marketing its software as a way for users to download illegal, pirated media.
While I am loathe to criticise film and music industry attempts to protect their assets and profits, the Grokster ruling is worth a second glance as it has thrown into doubt every industry that manufactures products that could conceivably be used for illegal purposes.
Pursuing Grokster so vehemently is like using a sledge hammer to crack a nut, and the US courts may find that they have bitten off more than they can chew with this particular decision as companies struggle to determine what the true implications are. Would, for example, the victim of a car crash, where the driver at fault was exceeding the speed limit, be justified in pursuing the car manufacturer for damages? They could conceivably argue that many car adverts play on the fact that their machines make a mockery of the 70mph speed limit.
In 2001 Apple, the California-based maker of the Macintosh, launched an
aggressive ad campaign it called ‘Rip. Mix. Burn.’ It was a rather obvious, but
compelling, play on the rewriteable CD drive that came with its latest Mac, and
its ability to copy CDs. Theoretically, this could fall foul of the judges'
opinion in the Grokster ruling.
It is this grey area that has split the business world and led the likes of
Intel, AT&T and Sun Microsystems to lend their support to Grokster. They,
along with many others, understand that file-sharing technology is here to stay
and can play a vital role in the future of business.
Perhaps more importantly, the Grokster ruling is another threat to the culture of innovation that exists on the web. Although a completely alien concept to many business people, some of the best innovation comes about despite a complete lack of profit motivation. Stifling that culture is a threat to what could arguably be seen as the most important revolution since the industrial age.
Consider this. In 1982, then head of the Motion Picture Association of America, Jack Valenti, launched a scathing attack on the newly launched video tape recorder. “The VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone," he said. Of course, it didn’t end up like that, and the VCR provided a hugely lucrative revenue stream for the film industry and spawned a video rental shop on what seems like every street corner.
It was around the same time that Valenti was making his comments that Sir Tim started work on the web and what would become the ultimate file-sharing network. His vision has since created a thousand millionaires, and the odd billionaire. Without him there would be no eBay, no Google, no AOL Time Warner, and PartyGaming would not be sitting in the FTSE-100 index. Food for thought.
