RIAA to target another 532 individuals

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) launched its largest wave of file-swapping lawsuits on Wednesday, filing new copyright infringement suits against 532 currently unnamed individuals.

The suits are the industry group's first since an appeals court in December blocked its original strategy of identifying alleged file swappers before filing lawsuits by sending subpoenas to their internet service providers. As a result, Wednesday's legal actions target hundreds of unnamed or 'John Doe' computer users, whose identities will be added to the suits only after a court process that's likely to take several weeks.

"The process by which we identify defendants has changed but the programme has not," RIAA president Cary Sherman said in a press conference to announce the lawsuits. "Our message should be as clear as ever: We can and will continue to bring lawsuits against those who distribute music to millions of strangers."

The move comes after a month of mixed news for the RIAA, which had a set of legal setbacks - including the appeals court ruling on the subpoena issue - and some indications that the dampening effect of lawsuits on file swapping may be wearing off.

A survey the Pew Internet & American Life Project conducted in December found that just 14 per cent of Americans said they had recently downloaded music from a file-swapping network, compared with 29 per cent in a similar survey completed in May 2003.

In contrast, a report internet monitoring firm The NPD Group released last week found that music file swapping rose 14 per cent between September and November, after falling substantially earlier in the year. The research firm attributed its findings in part to the lack of recent high-profile news about legal enforcement as well as a seasonal rise in music releases but said it could not pinpoint specific reasons for the turnaround.

"Do people start to return to their old behaviours when they don't believe you're actively going to take them to task?" asked NPD researcher Russ Crupnick. "We don't have any specific data on that... so it is just a trend that bears watching."

The RIAA declined to comment on the studies, saying different groups used different methodologies and that it is impossible to compare them accurately. Its campaign had been undeniably successful in teaching people about the legal issues surrounding file trading, executives said.

"What we do know for certain is that awareness has shot through the roof," said Mitch Bainwol, the RIAA's new chief executive officer, citing the results of a study the industry group privately commissioned. "Prior to the launch of these legal actions, 35 per cent of the population understood that [trading copyrighted music online] was illegal. Now, that percentage is in the mid-60s."

John Borland writes for CNET News.com.