It's about piracy, not privacy

CNet News ^ | 24 July 2007 | Nancy Prager

[ShadowAce]

[mysterio]

Contrary to popular belief, digital file sharing has a direct impact on independent artists

It sure does. It allows them to reach a worldwide audience without the record monopoly/corporate radio gatekeeper.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

While Harry Potter may need an invisibility cloak to fight evil, the average Internet user does not need a cloak to use the Internet.

Whew, well there goes all the debate about privacy and anonymity on the Internet - the article writer has decided it all for us.

[weegee]

Did the MPAA ever pursue charges against Fidel Castro for showing a supposed “bootleg” of Fahrenheit 9/11 on Cuban television?

I suspect that they did not and that the broadcast had tacit approval from Michael Moore despite his claims that it was unauthorized (authorization would have prohibited an Oscar nomination for the film).

[FoxInSocks]

As an example, an influential artist in a niche music genre has established that the bulk of his catalog is available on torrent streams.

I'd like to remove the invisibility cloak and unmask this artist. Just curious.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Whew, well there goes all the debate about privacy and anonymity on the Internet - the article writer has decided it all for us.

A quick check shows that the article writer, Nancy Prager, is an IP lawyer with clients in the music and movie industries. As such, the motivations for her views are self-explanatory.

[wtc911]

It sure does. It allows them to reach a worldwide audience without the record monopoly/corporate radio gatekeeper.

___________________________________

Do you work for free? Or, to be more accurate, if your paycheck were stolen after you did the work and you had no way of getting it back would that be ok with you? That is what this is about, theft.

[APFel]

"A person is guilty of theft, if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it".

It isn't theft. It's piracy. Theft is an entirely different animal.

APf

[Turbopilot]

if your paycheck were stolen after you did the work and you had no way of getting it back would that be ok with you?

No, but it happens every April 15th anyway.

[ShadowAce]

Thank you. One of my peeves is people who don’t know (or refuse to make the distinction between) the differences between piracy and theft.

[xenophiles]

1) People can use anonymous proxies to upload things, so the logs are useless from the word "go". The MPAA lawyers either don't know this, or are simply trying to make life difficult for TorrentSpy.

2) If having servers in the U.S. exposes companies to silly U.S. laws then smart executives will keep their servers elsewhere.

3) For a laugh, search YouTube for "MPAA Pirating".

[APFel]

Mine, too. I’m not sure why it bugs me so much. I think it’s because those folks calling it “theft” are dishonestly trying to classify 14-year old basement dwelling teens downloading some crummy rap album into the same group as shoplifters, carjackers and strong arm robbers.

I have no patience for it.

APf

[wtc911]

Mine, too. I’m not sure why it bugs me so much. I think it’s because those folks calling it “theft” are dishonestly trying to classify 14-year old basement dwelling teens downloading some crummy rap album into the same group as shoplifters, carjackers and strong arm robbers. I have no patience for it.

-------------------------------------

You two may split hairs and chuckle like a couple of those 14 year olds in the basement but the point is that piracy is theft and no matter which word you use it is wrong, immoral, dishonest and illegal.

What I have no patience for is moral relativism.

[Popocatapetl]

I find it amusing that she didn’t mention the name of the “independent artist”, as doing so might cost him a significant part of his for-pay audience, who often resent complicity with the RIAA.

I will add that *any* indirect support for the music business because of their allegedly supporting artists, is totally dead, since the RIAA got the legal right to treat artists as minimum wage contract employees with NO residual rights to the royalties of the artists own music.

That’s like saying you shouldn’t crack down on highly profitable sweatshops, because otherwise they won’t be able to give their slaves a bowl a rice a day. And you don’t want to hurt a bunch of starving slaves, now do you?

[ShadowAce]

You two may split hairs and...

It's not splitting hairs to differentiate between crimes

... chuckle like a couple of those 14 year olds in the basement but the point is that piracy is theft...

That is the point--and piracy is NOT theft.

... and no matter which word you use it is wrong, immoral, dishonest and illegal.

Agreed wholeheartedly.

What I have no patience for is moral relativism.

Not sure why this statement is here, but I agree with that as well.

[APFel]

No, it isn’t theft. It’s piracy. Read the definition above.

And I have written no hint of “moral relativism” anywhere. I have not come out for or against piracy, so spare me the hysterics.

As Rush says, words mean things. How can you muster the thoughts to add to the discussion when you can’t even get the terminology correct?

APf

[mysterio]

If you're in the record business, you had better stop wasting time on message boards and come up with one heck of a new business plan that doesn't involve suing your listeners. Wake up and smell the 90s.

That being said, I was referring to the independent artists that now don't have to go $100,000 into debt to convince a record company to payola enough radio stations to play their stuff. Now they can offer their music on their website to the whole world.

The internets rock.

[The Duke]

I think we should go after these file sharers full force, just as soon as we’ve nabbed every other criminal in our society who is committing more serious offenses (jaywalking, for example).

[wtc911]

I’m not in the recording industry and I see you point but it is not the issue.