WEEKEND MEMOS

'Weekend memos' give our editorial writers a chance to express their own opinions, comment on topics they have been writing about, or take a lighter approach. The opinions in 'Memos' do not always follow the Enquirer's editorial positions.

Never mind what your mother told you: Sometimes, sharing is not a good thing. In fact, now it can get you into legal trouble with the Record Industry Association of America.

Late last month, RIAA announced it would start pursuing individual users of "file sharing" software such as Kazaa, not just the software makers. Its initial targets will be big users who violate copyright by offering music files from their home computers for others to take, not those who simply take them. Those targets are plentiful, because file-sharing systems (Kazaa, Morpheus and others) are extremely popular, totaling more than 5 billion downloads in the United States last year. As of May, more than 230 million people worldwide have acquired the free Kazaa software.

The lesson is this: If you're using file-sharing software, don't share your files. And if you're just taking files, watch out. You may be next.

It's an awkward situation for any industry - suing people who are fans of its products. But the record industry has been forced into action by the rush of technology. Two years ago, it won a major file-sharing victory in the Napster case. It was able to do so because Napster had a centralized system, a specific place where copyright-infringing files were stored.

But file-sharing advocates got smart. The new generation of sharing is decentralized, "peer-to-peer" software with which you search a loose, ever-changing network of home computers to find a file. Peer-to-peer is a valuable innovation with plenty of legitimate applications. This has put the record industry in the untenable position of trying to stop a technology just because some - even most - people misuse it. That's why it's going after individual copyright infringers.

On a more positive note, the industry has finally started to "get it" where consumer choice and technology are concerned. New pay-for-download services, led by iTunes, Rhapsody and others, are letting people download songs for 99 cents (or less) each. This takes away a major rationale of illegal downloaders - that fans have little choice, being forced to get music on overpriced CDs with only a couple of good songs amid the filler.

Now, consumers can buy the songs they want and burn them onto custom CDs at home. Best of all, it is truly competitive - where the market determines everybody's fair share.

Ray Cooklis