Many people have been excited about the prospect of watching live footage of an upcoming file-sharing trial. Given the tactics of the RIAA both in and out of court, coupled with their own assertion that they do no wrong, you'd think they would encourage a live trial viewable by any. Quite the opposite is true as the RIAA is actually objecting to a courtroom web broadcast. They claim that the video stream can be manipulated by “tech-savvy” individuals, and that “improper modifications” could be taken out of context. They go even further to claim that a webcast could “infect” the jury pool in favor of the man being sued.

That's a far-fetched claim, of course, as editing of live video streams it not exactly a trivial task, regardless of whether it is on the Internet or elsewhere. The RIAA also claims that the stream could have statements “edited in” and then passed off as the original, which could be damaging to them. It's all nonsense, of course, and it is clear that the RIAA wishes to avoid any publicizing of the trial to avoid the world seeing just how they portray themselves in court.

I hope the webcast goes on as planned, as many others would. It would be interesting to see what exactly the RIAA does in court. Given the opportunity to see such a trial, would you tune in and watch?