The entertainment industry and the EFF have been at each other for years, and the EFF has just launched the latest salvo in the war of words between the two groups. It's a list of "tough questions" to ask MPAA and RIAA reps, questions designed to force them to go on the record with unpopular opinions or explanations. As the EFF puts it, "Asking hard questions is a way of 'keeping honest people honest' and revealing when they're actually being deceptive."

What sort of things are on the list? Here's a sampling.

The RIAA has sued over 20,000 music fans for file sharing. Recently, an RIAA representative reportedly suggested that "students drop out of college or go to community college in order to be able to afford [P2P lawsuit] settlements." Do you stand by this advice? Is this really good advice for our children's futures?

Major entertainment companies have repeatedly brought lawsuits to block new technologies, including the VCR, Digital Audio Tape recorders, the first MP3 player, the ReplayTV PVR, and now P2P software. Why is your industry so hostile to new technologies?

The RIAA says that it doesn't mind if I rip CDs to my personal computer and put them on my iPod. Do I need your permission to do this or can I legally do it even if you object?

The major movie studios have been enjoying some of their most profitable years in history over the past five years. Can you cite to any specific studies that prove noncommercial file sharing among fans, as opposed to commercial DVD piracy, has hurt the studios' bottom line in any significant way?

In several lawsuits, the MPAA has repeatedly said that it's illegal to make a back-up of a DVD that I purchased. Why is this illegal?

Is it ever legal for me to use software like DVD Shrink or Handbrake to rip a digital copy of a DVD I own onto a video iPod or my laptop? What if I want clips to use for a class report? Or if a teacher wants to include a clip in a PowerPoint slide?

Is there anything illegal about copying TV shows I?ve recorded off the air onto my video iPod?

At bottom, the questions try raise one fundamental question: Can the entertainment industry actually prove that backing up DVDs, engaging in non-commercial file-swapping, and recording from digital radio are a threat to the bottom line? Past studies have found that file-swapping, the music industry's biggest concern, actually leads people to purchase more music and to spend more money. If this is a problem, it's the sort of problem most businesses would kill for. Limited evidence suggests that DRM actually hurts sales of CDs and aggravates customers, especially when that DRM is a rootkit.

The list of questions is solid, and they're well worth tossing out if you find yourself in a meeting with an entertainment industry rep. It's also an opportunity for the industry, should they care to take it. How so? By gathering the strongest criticisms against the entertainment business into one high-profile list, the EFF has given the RIAA and MPAA an excellent chance to talk candidly about some thorny questions. If the industry takes the opportunity and engages the EFF—really engages, as opposed to just labeling file-swappers "pirates" and ending the discussion—the conversation could be quite interesting.