Rapper backs download action

LL Cool J is a rap music and movie star

Rapper LL Cool J has said he supports the US music industry's legal threats to illegal music downloaders.

The star was speaking to a Senate committee investigating whether the industry has been too heavy-handed.

"My question is, if a contractor builds a building, should people be allowed to move into the building for free?" he told senators.

But fellow rapper Chuck D, of Public Enemy, said people should be allowed to swap songs on peer-to-peer sites.

Peer-to-peer services, or P2P, allow people to share songs between them over the internet.

'Power to the people'

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has launched a legal campaign against persistent downloaders, and has so far sued 261 people in the US for infringements.

The suits are for as much as $10,000 (£6,400), though the RIAA has said it could sue for up to $150,000 (£96,150) per song. The legal campaign has been mounted in an attempt to halt falling music sales in the US.

It has so far settled 52 of the lawsuits, but plans to file hundreds more in October.

The RIAA has filed 261 lawsuits against people it accuses of song-swapping

"P2P to me means power to the people," said Chuck D. "I trust the consumer more than I trust the people at the helm of these (record) companies."

The rap star later added: "LL's a staunch American...but when you solely have an American state of mind, you're increasingly becoming a smaller part of the world."

Users fall

Senate Governmental Affairs Sub-Committee chairman, Minnesota Republican Senator Norm Coleman, called a hearing because he was afraid the RIAA was being too hard on downloaders.

"As a former prosecutor, I am troubled by a strategy that uses the law to threaten people into submission," said the senator, who worked as a roadie for bands in the sixties.

Among those targeted have been a 13-year-old girl and a 71-year-old grandfather, who said it was his grandchildren who used his computer.

The lawsuits appear to have affected activity on the more popular peer-to-peer networks, new research released this week shows.

Nielsen/NetRatings, which tracks internet usage, said file-sharing on the Kazaa network had dropped 41% in the past three months.