Are you trading MP3s? Then the RIAA wants a word with you...

In a new 'educational' tactic, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) plans to send instant messages to those offering music tracks through peer-to-peer services, warning them that they are breaking the law.

Tapping into the chat functions built into software programs such as KaZaA and Grokster, the RIAA yesterday began sending automated messages to people who are providing copyrighted songs online, warning them that they're breaking the law - as if they needed telling.

The threatening undertone of the messages will warn file-swappers that they are putting themselves at legal risk by offering music online.

Cary Sherman, president of the RIAA, said: "We're going to be sending messages to the very people who are offering music, in real time, as they do it. The hope is that, this way, we'll be reaching the people who need to know that they are not anonymous, that there are risks of legal consequences if they continue, and also that there are risks to privacy and security."

Sherman believes the campaign, dubbed Music United, may have more effect because it targets file swappers directly, through their own medium of choice.

"It's different when you get a message that pops up on your screen that says, 'We know who you are, and we know what you're doing,'" Sherman said.

The new RIAA campaign will search for a list of several hundred popular songs and automatically send an instant message to any person who appears to be offering one of them, Sherman said.

The group expects to send about one million of the messages per week. "It appears that you are offering copyrighted music to others from your computer," the message will read in part. "Distributing or downloading copyrighted music on the internet without permission from the copyright owner is ILLEGAL. When you offer music on these systems, you are not anonymous and you can easily be identified."