Can filesharers be made to pay? - Adam Webb

This is an article from the Guardian on Thursday March 22nd 2007, and it addresses the issue of filesharers illegally sharing music over the internet with such programs as Limewire

http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2040201,00.html

Mere lawsuits no longer unnerve "pirates" on the web, and the music industry must look for a way in which it can make money from peer to peer sharing.
The RIAA is a group which makes it it's personal aim to fight against online piracy. Their latest scheme includes a website which allows American college students to settle costs upfront from peer to peer sharing files they have been involved in.
http://www.p2plawsuits.com/P2P_00_Home.aspx

However, the majority of headlines that the RIAA have created since starting up in 2003 have been mostly negative, especially with their focus on college campuses. Universities feel they are pressured into divulging information about students.
The question now is :
Will these measure be taken against peer to peer sharing in the UK?

The UK equivalent of the RIAA, is the BPI (British Phonographic Industry), have been said to have more "sensitivity" about them. They waited until the law on downloading became final and precise before they began their fight against online piracy.

The Chief Executive of Big Champagne, a media analysis company that specialises in monitoring P2P sharing says that around 1 billion tracks are traded illegally each month. This is occuring despite the closure of P2P sharing systems such as the first illegal Napster, Grokster, and Kazaa.

A filesharer knows that the likelihood of being caught is astronomical, and so they will continue to do it because they don't believe they will be caught and music industries can do little about it.
However the Chief Executive of the BPI states that his aim was never to stamp out P2P sharing, but to display the message that it was illegal.

A big point is the difference between the downloaders and the uploaders. So far, only the uploaders have been targeted, but new strategies may be placed which restrict people from downloading music which has been uploaded illegally.
The BPI's job is not being made any easier by programmes such as Limewire and Morpheus which are still up and running, and many of the music swaps now occur in closed social networks, and MP3 blogs. Other forms of media such as Q magazine have also been listing URL's in which visitors are able to download free music.

The way this media is now being consumed is very different to what it was just a few years ago though. The music industry has to adapt it's methods in order to match this different consumerism. An example of this is the fact that people prefer to get their songs of Itunes stores rather than actually buying the whole CD now.
The main question remaining now is:
Where are all the new "legal" P2P sharing systems?