Australian MP3 Directory Creator In Court
from the blame-blame-blame dept
The recording industry's inability to understand technology is certainly leading to some bizarre court cases. The latest is in Australia, where the industry is making Stephen Cooper out to be some sort of criminal mastermind for putting together a directory that linked to sites that offered MP3s for download. They claim that this is worse than just sharing, because Cooper had ads on the page, by which he made money. As if to prove how awful that was, they go on about just how many visitors the page had. Of course, the problem with this entire argument is that Cooper wasn't distributing a single MP3. He was simply pointing to other sites that did. As such, what he offered was no different than Yahoo or Google, both of which point to plenty of sites that offer MP3s for download, and both of which offer ads.
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Other side of the coin.
This guy has gone to the trouble of making a web site and profits from the mp3 trading activity.
While I really dislike the music industry, and agree they really need to change. I dont give this guy much of a chance.
The technicality that there were no MP3 files and he wasn't directly involved with the mp3 trading is kind of weak. If it were another 'crime', it wouldn't hold much water at all. It would probably be accessory.
For example, if I were to broadcast to everyone I know[on the internet?] that a certain hardware store left their warehouses unchecked from 1am to 2am on mondays. I would see that as having some involvement in the crime.
And while there can be the argument that there was no physical loss, that's not really the point. Allowing any electronic information to be considered as free as long as there is no physical loss sets a dangerous precident. One of the very core ideas of capitalism is that have an owner. That person will look after that thing, protect it etc etc etc. It's what makes capitalism workable and communism not.
THe problem is that in the future more and more "property" is going to be digitally based. So if the idea that anything digital can be 'pirated', that is going to destroy some of the workings of the capitalistic market.
Of course, I am not pro forcing digital rights management to the hardware level either. I am not comfortable with the rigidity of digital rights as it stands now. I believe the ability to freely copy your own digital assets for archival or to use elsewhere as important.
I really dont know anything about legalities. but this is just how I am seeing it, considering how they are seeing it.
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Re: Other side of the coin.
One of the very core ideas of capitalism is [property/things] that have an owner.
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