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giblfiz · 08-14-2003, 02:06 PM

Wow, Deja Vu to slashdot. but I guess that's to be expected in the computers forum.

I'm going to to be straight with everyone, I am a flaming pirate. I have a large mp3 collection and I have never bought many CDs. before fileshareing I just didn't listen to much music.

As Mr M pointed out copyright violation is illegal, but it is not actually a crime. It is a breach of contract, there is a rather significant difference. In this particular case I feel little to no guilt over my breach of contract because I feel that I was bamboozled in the first place. Further since the RIAA has been found guilty of price fixing on more than one occasion, something which, more than a breach of contract is actually a crime, and they have never been punished for it, or prevented from doing it again, (which they are clearly doing) I feel that downloading music is a little closer to vigilantly justice than anything else.

On a Larger scale the Intellectual Property laws in this country have gone way out of whack. In particular the advent of the Internet truly requires a massive and realistic reassessment of IP law which is quite impossible. As it stands right now the IP law reflects neither reality nor justice. In a world where printing and distribution are difficult the IP laws as they stand were sane (if with the incessant copyright extensions a bit unfair) but with the advent of digital reproduction your looking at a different situation.

Regardless of the law the music industry is going to need to change their business model a bit. Quite honestly I don't know what they are thinking at the moment anyway, a CD sale has almost no overhead per sale (though there is a significant amount of overhead per title) so they should want to drop there prices quite low in order to sell a whole lot of CDs. Instead CD prices are insane I was in a store about 3 weeks ago and saw a DVD selling for $14.75 and its soundtrack selling for $21.50. That sort of thing simply isn't rational. If they dropped there prices to $3 an album they would make a killing.

Anyway, I'm rambling ranting, and leaving my argument open to a lot of counter attacks. But then, thats sort of the spirit of debate, now isn't it.

08-14-2003, 02:06 PM	#26 (permalink)
giblfiz is a shoggoth Location: LA	Wow, Deja Vu to slashdot. but I guess that's to be expected in the computers forum. I'm going to to be straight with everyone, I am a flaming pirate. I have a large mp3 collection and I have never bought many CDs. before fileshareing I just didn't listen to much music. As Mr M pointed out copyright violation is illegal, but it is not actually a crime. It is a breach of contract, there is a rather significant difference. In this particular case I feel little to no guilt over my breach of contract because I feel that I was bamboozled in the first place. Further since the RIAA has been found guilty of price fixing on more than one occasion, something which, more than a breach of contract is actually a crime, and they have never been punished for it, or prevented from doing it again, (which they are clearly doing) I feel that downloading music is a little closer to vigilantly justice than anything else. On a Larger scale the Intellectual Property laws in this country have gone way out of whack. In particular the advent of the Internet truly requires a massive and realistic reassessment of IP law which is quite impossible. As it stands right now the IP law reflects neither reality nor justice. In a world where printing and distribution are difficult the IP laws as they stand were sane (if with the incessant copyright extensions a bit unfair) but with the advent of digital reproduction your looking at a different situation. Regardless of the law the music industry is going to need to change their business model a bit. Quite honestly I don't know what they are thinking at the moment anyway, a CD sale has almost no overhead per sale (though there is a significant amount of overhead per title) so they should want to drop there prices quite low in order to sell a whole lot of CDs. Instead CD prices are insane I was in a store about 3 weeks ago and saw a DVD selling for $14.75 and its soundtrack selling for $21.50. That sort of thing simply isn't rational. If they dropped there prices to $3 an album they would make a killing. Anyway, I'm rambling ranting, and leaving my argument open to a lot of counter attacks. But then, thats sort of the spirit of debate, now isn't it. __________________ Use the star one and you'll be fighting off the old ones with your bare hands -A Shoggoth on the Roof