THE RECENT CLAIMS by the New York Times that record companies are preparing software that will lock a computer system for a period of minutes or perhaps hours make it high time to call "Enough!" on the tactics of the RIAA and its members and to call for a thorough investigation of its powers and activities in regard to anti-piracy.

The most serious misgiving that I have with the RIAA is that it is a body that functions on behalf of its member record companies.

It is not an independent and duly authorised legal body and yet has acquired for itself the power to hack into any computer to examine the contents of the hard disk and the power to deposit new software or modify exiting software. On top of this, its degree of liability for damages for these activities is so minor as to be meaningless.

As things currently stand, the RIAA appears to have the power to download music files onto any hard disk, then to claim that those files were put there by the users of that computer and take due action against them. Whether you believe that it would take such action is up to you -- I only report how the situation appears.

I don't believe that any other industry-based organisation has such sweeping powers, not even the software industry with its attempts to deal with its own problems of piracy. In most countries even the police must show due case before making a search - and they operate under judicial proper authority and without vested interests.

It would be disturbing enough if the RIAA had credibility in its statements and actions, but it doesn't. It chooses to ignore many plausible reasons for a drop on music sales in 2001 and 2002, preferring to blame downloading from the web as the entire cause of the ills of the music industry. Having decided that downloads are to blame, it has put its own spin on the matter and then taken draconian steps - out of all proportion to the situation - to stamp out downloads.

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