So why can I go into a Blockbuster and buy a blank DVD with my rental of a movie on DVD? What do they think I'm going to do with that blank DVD? Why isn't the movie industry all over this practice?? The Supremes are so off base this week!
What that one time rental or purchase of said DVD or CD does not authorize you to do, is to "share" it through a peer to peer with an unlimited number of your "closest friends".
It is copyrighted material. The owner of the copyright(the creators of the property you're "sharing")doesn't get paid beyond that initial purchase.
The next time you want to download something for free, do this for me. Go into You're nearest Walmart, Kmart,or Tower Records or Blockbuster pick up a CD or DVD and walk out of the store without paying for it and announce as loudly as you can as You're walking out of the store that you're taking this movie or CD without paying for it...and there's not a damn anybody can do about it, because there's nothing wrong with it. It's there. They're sharing it with you. It was made easily available to you. They built that big display just for you . They must want you to have it . See how far you get... Explain to the nice police the finer points of "sharing" as he or she is reading you your rights. It's the same thing.
Intent to take something that doesn't belong to expressly to YOU ,without paying for it, is STEALING. You can make copies of bought CD's or rented movies for private noncommercial use. It's the rebroadcast and redistribution of said CD's and Movies without paying a fee(which the creators of the music or movie earn their living from)that peer to peer until now has been so "freely " providing that infringes the copyright that I and my fellow professional songwriters are guaranteed by the Constitution.