From the latest Penny Arcade news page, re: the RIAA prosecuting individual file sharers:
[…] It was their activities under Hilary Rosen that truly unleashed Peer to Peer file sharing to begin with, with a barrage of legal attacks that amounted to the most fabulous PR campaign ever. I said at the time that if my Mom knows about Napster, then they fucked up big-time. Let’s say these guys do start arresting people for downloading music, for having these files. I don’t share their view that this terror will cause people to stop doing these things. Here’s what I think it will do: instigate a mass evolution in public digital consciousness. Because that’s the other way it turns out – instead of people being scared, they defend themselves with new technologies designed to obfuscate their origins. Because if regular people, my mom included, begin to understand the personal and political ramifications of encryption? Think about it. It’s not impossible.