Sponsor's Message

Just look at how many millions of people are using the Net to illegally trade copyrighted music for example and you realise the ease with which such mass law-breaking can be organised.

Then there are the seemingly endless list of websites that carry material such as child pornography, warez, and other illegal offerings.

Of course when these things are tied to a physical computer, it generally becomes a relatively simple task to track them down and prosecute the offenders.

But imagine this...

What would happen if all these nefarious types got together and put up their own satellite?

Sounds ridiculous?

Maybe -- but apparently the Kazaa filesharing application has now been downloaded over 230 million times -- which suggest that their could be as many as 100 million people using this network.

Now if, thanks to the power of the Net, all these users paid just $10 in order to fund the building and launch of such a satellite, that'd come to a cool $1 billion. You can buy a lot of satellite for $1bn!

And I suspect that there are more than one or two new entrants into the satellite launch business who'd gladly look the other way, take your money, and provide the a couple of satellites and their launch for well under the $1bn collected.

What would authorities do then?

Imagine -- using a simple satellite dish that looks just like the Sky dish already on your roof, or even a more covert type of satellite receiver, people could download all the music and porn they wanted, with virtually no chance of being detected or traced by authorities.

Of course an uplink would have to be provided but, that could be done from a mobile ground-station that would simply update the satellite-borne server every day or so with new material.

Would the RIAA and its mates fund the development and manufacture of their own anti-satellite missiles in retaliation?

Now before you all say "bah, what a load of hogwash, it could never happen" -- just remember that a market of 100 million people who have shown they would rather steal than buy could be a huge market -- if you can convince them to pay (say) just $1 per month for guaranteed risk-free access to all that illegal material.

And wherever there's a large market and the chance of a monopoly, a supplier will eventually appear.

If any Aardvark readers want to share an opinion on today's column or add something, you're invited to chip in and have your say in The Aardvark Forums or, if you prefer, you can contact me directly.

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