OT?: Legal question about p2p

[Erik Bixby]

"To be honest, you're the one who made the insinuation :). You could have
mentioned that you think it's bad that people need personal legal defense
funds just in case the RIAA and friends decide to sue them. You could have
mentioned that this is especially worrisome because people who haven't
done anything wrong are being attacked with the legal system and the RIAA
and friends have no evidence of wrongdoing.

Without those qualifiers it looked like you were trying to figure out how
to get away with something. Or at least taking that into account when
designing the system."

I apologize to Alan for my response.  I realized, just after hitting
the "send" button, that I could have been a little less emotional.=20
However, it is frustrating that all p2p file sharing is just assumed
to be illicit.  This seems, to me, to be a big win on the part of the
**IAs.

To my mind, if two people own a particular CD, they ought to be able
to exchange .mp3 files from that CD without outside interference.  Of
course, not being a lawyer, I don't actually know if there is a law
somewhere that would prevent this...  The fact that all p2p file
sharing is just assumed to be illegal is wrong, to me.  What if a CD I
own becomes scratched and unplayable?  Should I not be able to listen
to .mp3 files of the CD that I own, even though the physical media has
been damaged?  There are legitimate reasons for exchanging .mp3 files,
imho.  I think it should be a matter of personal responsibility, as to
whether or not the files being downloaded by an individual are being
downloaded legally, and not just assumed to be illegal.  But, that's
me.  And, not being a lawyer, I thought I would ask the smartest group
of people I know.  :)

Thank you for all the information.  I'll go take a look at those other proj=
ects.
-Erik

On 5/31/05, der.hans <PLUG@lufthans.com> wrote:
> Am 31. May, 2005 schw=E4tzte Erik Bixby so:
>=20
> > "Don't trade files you don't have permission to copy."
> >
> > Who said anything about trading files I don't have permission to copy?
> >
> > I strongly resent the insinuation that I trade illegal files.  I am
> > just someone who is sick to death of reading the stories about the
> > RIAA suing little, old ladies.
>=20
> To be honest, you're the one who made the insinuation :). You could have
> mentioned that you think it's bad that people need personal legal defense
> funds just in case the RIAA and friends decide to sue them. You could hav=
e
> mentioned that this is especially worrisome because people who haven't
> done anything wrong are being attacked with the legal system and the RIAA
> and friends have no evidence of wrongdoing.
>=20
> Without those qualifiers it looked like you were trying to figure out how
> to get away with something. Or at least taking that into account when
> designing the system.
>=20
> That said, there are definitely reasons for needing anonymous publishing
> systems like freenet in this country. Ask the guy who almost got sued by =
a
> Scottsdale-based business for pointing out that hitting shift circumvente=
d
> their 'security'.
>=20
> Alan's admonition, while apparently misdirected, is still valid. We shoul=
d
> discourager rather than encourage illegal copying of copyrighted material=
.
> A good way of doing that is by encouraging artists who play fair.
>=20
> Magnatune looks interesting. We need plugins to it from our music players
> :).
>=20
> > At any rate, does anybody have a useful answer to my question?
>=20
> I hope my other email was more directly useful :).
>=20
> ciao,
>=20
> der.hans
> --
> #  https://www.LuftHans.com/    http://www.AZOTO.org/
> #  "So the environment is not a luxury ... It is an economically importan=
t
> #  insurance policy whose wisdom we ignore at our peril."
> #  -- Klaus Toepfer, U.N. environment agency Executive Director
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