] File-sharing companies that beat back an entertainment
] industry lawsuit now face a potentially stronger foe: the
] industry's lobbyists in Washington.

Swinging from one branch to another... The Olympics are going on.. Think uneven bars and government.

] Mitch Bainwol, chief executive of the Recording Industry
] Assn. of America, said Friday that "there's nothing
] inherently wrong" with file sharing as a distribution
] system, "other than in most applications it's been
] hijacked and morphed into a use that's destroying
] the creative process."

The use of the word "hijacked" implies the current industry folks had some active enterprise making an economically successful use of distributed p2p technology that evil pirates have pillaged. Arrrr.. And not to harp on semantacs, but it also connects to other more nefarious things in a shameless attempt to make the issue more emotional.

P2P is not destroying the creative process, but its certainly redefining the environment in which the creative process takes place, to an ends which in the short term is disruptive. I don't think anyone that is versed in the issues pertaining to IP these days that will disagree with that.

] "The fact is, the entertainment industry … they bring
] aggressive cases, and they litigate them vigorously,"
] Bridges said. "And start-ups often can't stand the
] burden of litigation itself."

Arrr.. Watch for them cannons at the mouth of the harbor..

Again, a common theme of this decade comes up: Fear. If you were a wise successful fiscally conservative investor, would you sail into those foggy waters? Certainly not alone you wouldn't.. That's team sport. The sparks of innovation on the other hand usually are not.

The beat of the distributed information market goes on.