[The RIAA's] attack on trustworthiness points to one obvious reaction: move from a system with search horizons to one with real membranes, and make those membranes social as well as technological. ... trusted intermediaries who broker introductions ... act as a kind of social Visa system. You search for resources a certain social distance from you. ... ways to move to such membrane-bounded systems include retrofitting existing networks to allow sub-groups with controlled membership ... [If the RIAA succeeds,] users will switch to social spaces. The RIAA may reason that they have little to lose by attacking social sharing systems with a vengeance. It is clear that the current environment favors the development and adoption of social and collaborative tools. On the one hand, Shirky seems to suggest that fans of Memestreams should cheer on the RIAA, since this will drive users to adopt social systems (like Memestreams). Unfortunately, he also predicts that the RIAA will proceed to attack the social systems even as they grow in popularity. So, then, the Memestreams weather forecast is, "big waves ahead, followed by a hurricane." Is your computer equipped with Storm Windows? Shirky: File-sharing Goes Social | 
