robbdn

I read it... very interesting stuff... It would seem that this is also the reason anime fans are able to import and fansub japanese animation (up until the point a US distribution deal is made).

I also wanted to make a comment on the download legal/illegal debate...

Fortunately, in the US, downloading is a protected activity, and when I say protected, I mean that it is protected by privacy laws. In this sense, the US is an interesting place to live. With the DMCA we have some of the strictest and most rigidly enforced digital copyright laws, but we also have strict privacy laws preventing big brother or the RIAA from coming after all the little guys who download stuff in our spare time.

For example, let's say I download some copyrighted material off of a private server with SFTP. Before the RIAA or the FBI can subpeona the download logs of the private server and come after me, they must show to a judge sufficient evidence to convince the judge it's worth invading my privacy. How likely is it that they will be able to prove I downloaded from that server, and convince a judge to write a court order to invade my privacy? It's much easier for them to prove that the server operators were hosting illegal material and go after them.

Why P2P networks are bad: RIAA and FBI can lurk P2P networks without needing a court order, if they catch you downloading, they can easily prove that you were downloading illegal material and come after you. But, networks like usenet are protected by supreme court precedent to be free speech. What does this mean for the rest of us? Is federal protection of right to online privacy an implied consent to download copyrighted material?

Of course not. It is definitely illegal to have copyrighted material that you have not purchased in your home or on your computer. But, lawmakers realize that it's also important not to live in a totalitarian state where the police raid your house and computer every other week to make sure you're following the rules. Downloading from networks like usenet is NOT illegal, no matter what you're downloading, but once you assemble the content and have a complete song on your harddrive you are infringing somebody's copyright, and that's against the law. But it's also against the law for RIAA to violate your privacy without a court order...

It's a stalemate then, and very delicately balanced, so if you choose to infringe copyrights make sure you know what you're doing, and what you're up against.

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I'm swimming in the digital residue of a media-drenched world. It's too cold.