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  Oliver Wendell Jones, 14 Mar 2002 @ 10:34am

  
  

  This could apply to other industries

  What happens if (heaven forbid) this should get pushed through and becomes law?
  
  How long until the insurance industry decides that they could save bazillions of dollars each year if all automobiles had new 'technology' added that prevents them from speeding, etc.
  
  Pretty much everyone agrees that speeding is illegal, and lots of people do it anyways (kind of like piracy).
  
  Do you think Americans are going to want to buy cars with new, improved 'technology' that prevents them from exceeding the posted speed limit?
  
  Who knows what other 'technology' could be implemented to help save other industries?

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    miguelita, 14 Mar 2002 @ 11:57am

    
    

    Re: This could apply to other industries

    Speeding is not "kind of like" piracy. Piracy, by definition, involves stealing; speeding isn't robbing anyone of anything. I agree with your thought, though not with your metaphor.

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      Mike (profile), 14 Mar 2002 @ 12:02pm

      
      

      Re: This could apply to other industries

      Well, not to get into a semantics debate, but I still don't believe that file trading is either piracy or stealing. No one is missing anything if I share a file with someone else. It's not like taking a physical object. You have made an exact copy. In my understanding, you haven't stolen anything if the person you "took" something from isn't missing anything.

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        Floyd, 14 Mar 2002 @ 12:49pm

        
        

        What is missing

        >Well, not to get into a semantics debate, but I still don't believe that file trading is either piracy or stealing. No one is missing anything if I share a file with someone else. It's not like taking a physical object. You have made an exact copy. In my understanding, you haven't stolen anything if the person you "took" something from isn't missing anything.< br>
        The artist, producer, distributer and others who would normally share in the sale of an item are deprived of income.

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          Mike (profile), 14 Mar 2002 @ 12:59pm

          
          

          Re: What is missing

          The artist, producer, distributer and others who would normally share in the sale of an item are deprived of income.
          
          That makes one very big assumption: that I would have bought the CD in the first place. If I never had any intention of buying it, then they're not losing anything.
          
          Or... another way to look at it. If I open up a pizza place and charge $3/slice, and some guy opens up a pizza place next door to me and charges $2/slice - by your definition of stealing, that guy is stealing from me, because I'm deprived of income that otherwise would have gone to me. I don't get the income because the consumer has an alternative...
          
          That's not stealing. That's business.

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            Anonymous Coward, 14 Mar 2002 @ 2:47pm

            
            

            Re: What is missing

            Why does this subject always touch off such a disagreement on basic principles? Piracy is not exactly the same as stealing, but is illegal nonetheless. I thought the speeding analogy was a good one. Better than the pizza one, although that would be a better analogy if, say, the cheaper pizza place were also called Pizza Hut (trademark infringement), stole your secret sauce recipe (trade secret), duplicated your patented pizza ovens (patent infringement), and stole your menu artwork (copyright infringement).

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    Anonymous Coward, 15 Mar 2002 @ 5:07am

    
    

    Re: This could apply to other industries

    Pretty much everyone agrees that speeding is illegal, and lots of people do it anyways (kind of like piracy).

    There's nothing to "agree" on, it's either forbidden by law (definition of illegal) or it isn't.

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  miguelita, 14 Mar 2002 @ 2:40pm

  
  

  piracy vs. used cd's?

  i don't get it... how come software "piracy" is wrong, but used-cd stores, which also prevent artists/labels from getting $$, are OK?

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  Mike Rerick, 15 Mar 2002 @ 7:44am

  
  

  No Subject Given

  Unfortunately, the first thing that all politicians care about is getting re-elected. Big companies have lots of money that they can "donate" to a campaign fund. Ordinary citizens don't. Who are the politicians going to listen to?

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  thecaptain, 15 Mar 2002 @ 8:25am

  
  

  yeah right...consumers.

  " But, no one invited the consumers. It's a valid point. If Congress is supposed to be looking out for the rights of the people, and not just companies, you would think they would do a better job talking to the people who pay the salaries of the entertainment industry."
  
  Actually, the entertainment industry has pretty much proven (and worked hard to convince Congress) that we aren't customers, that the majority of us are thieves and law-breakers who live to deprive them of their income, as such, I doubt they feel we should have ANY say.
  
  I always thought that in the US, it was innocent until proven guilty. I guess that went out the door with "fair use" right? SIGH

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