If you didn’t know that Eddie Money was back, well he is. And he has a message for those who ‘steal’ music online. Eddie Money, who made a splash in the 80’s with such hits as “Take me home tonight” and “If I could walk on water”, vanished into thin air when the 90’s rolled around. But have no fear, the copyright industry has found the rock Eddie was hiding under, brushed him off, and has given him a new record deal. And perhaps his biggest contribution is his new anti-piracy message to those rascally teenagers who are downloading hordes of Eddie Money tracks.

"Music piracy is illegal and extremely detrimental to all of those who make a living creating original musical works," said Money, whose new Warrior Records CD, "Wanna Go Back," was released in March. "If you truly like music, don't steal it. Support the industry by downloading your music legally."

So where exactly did this innovative and overwhelmingly convincing message come from? And when did Eddie Money earn a law degree? Interestingly enough, it was contained in a press release distributed by SafeMedia Corporation. SafeMedia Corporation is the latest company that feels it can seriously derail “illegal” P2P and file-sharing distribution. Those who have been following the latest Congressional hearings on college and university P2P piracy know that SafeMedia Corporation testified earlier this month that their technology can make a serious impact on the transmission of pirated material.

SafeMedia Corporation’s CEO and President Safwat Famy testified before Congress that his company’s P2P Dissaggregator “examines incoming and outgoing packets of information and destroys illegal P2P, while allowing legal P2P to reach its intended destination.” Sounds serious.

However, this is an overly broad statement considering that virtually all P2P copyright enforcement actions have taken place under civil law rather than criminal law. The existence of truly “illegal” content (a term reserved for criminal prosecution) on file-sharing networks is questionable at best. Although this technology appears to be touted as the golden egg of anti-piracy, those who’ve been following the P2P landscape know that taking on the file-sharing community is an effort in futility. It’s been nearly 10 years since the release of Napster, and the RIAA has yet to nullify such piracy on college campuses. Will SafeMedia somehow revolutionize the copyright holder’s ability to enforce their copyrights?