I think you're making a dangerous assumption here; that assumption is that the RIAA will be asking the ISPs to kill *all* gnutella users. They 1) Can't do that, and 2) Probably won't try. The way the law works is that in order to get someone's internet access yanked, you have to show that they are posting copyrighted material.

That's the next step folks. If the RIAA is serious about shutting this kind of thing down, they'll do what Metallica did to Napster a few months back. They'll pay people minimum wage to sit in front of a computer and download copyrighted material from the gnutella network. They'll then pay some other people a dollar or two more than minimum wage to track down the isp'a and file complaints on their behalf.

Encryption won't save you. That's because if you are sharing files with the public, they have to be able to be unencrypted on the other end, and that unecryption key has to be public. If you want to be able to share a file with Joe Sixpack in New York, then you'll also be sharing with Joe Blow in the RIAA. Once Mr. Blow has your IP addy and has successfully downloaded copyrighted material from you, he can have his minimum wage workers contact your ISP. Your ISP will likely do one of two things: 1) Contact you and ask you to promise never to do it again, or 2) Pull your connection. If they do anything else, they open themselves up to liability for aiding you in your effort to illegally transfer copyrighted material.

It's true that they can't get every gnutella user ... there are ways to set up private networks (but that also limits your audience), and there are probably way too many gnutella users to go after them all.

However, if news of people losing their cable modems starts rippling through the community, it's very possible that you'll see fewer and fewer people interested in running the risk. And let's face it, cable access is the lifeblood of file sharing communities. Few people can afford T1 or faster connections, and those who have them are probably connecting from their place of employment. I seriously doubt that they'll be willing to risk their jobs to share files if the RIAA starts using the tactic described above. That leaves 56k modems. Yes, you can access the net for free from multiple ISPs using a modem, and if you pay, you can access the net from an almost infinite list of ISPs. But I remember trying to d/l mp3s over my 56k modem, and it was a real pain. If the cable and dsl users get shut down, the whole network goes to crap.

The question is really whether or not the RIAA feels that the expense of going through this effort is worth whatever rewards they might receive from doing it. And that remains to be seen. But there's only so much we can do. Encryption isn't really a useful weapon in this battle. Private networks show more promise, but then you're placing a severe limitation on the audience you reach, and on the number of files available to you. Maybe the answer is offshore servers that people upload their files to. There are plenty of "pirate" countries out there where these things could be set up. But what kind soul is going to go through the expense of purchasing, maintaining, and upgrading these offshore servers if they're not making a buck on it?

In the end analysis, those who use file sharing software to obtain and distribute copyrighted material are pirates, and will ultimately be running the risk that pirates face in any other medium. This is not a value judgement ... I happen to like pirates. Still, no matter how anarchistic and annonymous the net may seem at times, I assure you, it is NOT annonymous, and the anarchy that used to reside here is being erroded by the rule of law. You can whine and moan about it all you want, but that's the facts, Jack.