Officials In Hong Kong Arrest 14-Year-Old For Music Sharing
from the how-dare-you! dept
TorrentFreak has the story of how a 14-year-old boy in Hong Kong has been arrested for sharing Cantonese pop songs online. He may now face up to four years in jail. As the author of the story notes, when he was 14 he had plenty of music on cassette tapes that he would share with friends, and how ridiculous would it be to think of going to prison for that? Kids share music -- it's part of what they do, and in most cases it's because they love the music and want more people to hear them. They're not "stealing" the music (and, at that age, probably can't afford most of it anyway.) They're simply expressing how much they enjoy the music -- and now at least one may go to jail for loving music too much. This isn't to defend unauthorized file sharing, but to simply question the response to it, compared to what's actually happening. Something does not seem properly aligned when kids who are expressing their love of music by trying to get others to listen to it are facing jail time.
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Filed Under: file sharing, hong kong, jail, music
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connections... and networking for success
Honestly though, I see this as being no different than having "connections" and being able to network opportunities for success better than those who do not have "connections".
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Isn't that the definition of the mafia? What he did was illegal, I think the point of the article is the punishment didn't fit the crime.
Like it or not, making a mixed tape for the girl you like in J. high was and still is illegal. As absurd as this all is, it's the law.
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Rationalizations heaped pretty high here, no?
And since I LOVE it so much, and since they love it so much, and since we're young, we obviously must be entitled to it!
It's not STEALING, because I'd never be so stupid as to actually PAY for anything I can get for free. Especially when that means I can now spend my money on clothes and shoes and gadgets and other things I can't steal quite so easily. At least without getting caught.
Oops. I got caught.
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Re: Rationalizations heaped pretty high here, no?
He's downloading for free, and he's seeding to keep his ratios in line so he can download faster.
Maybe you can search harder to find a story about some blind and disabled kid that is downloading - that should help us have more sympathy for him.
Oh...and since when is Torrentfreak a reliable source of objective reporting.
Tell me again why I read the stories on this site?
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Re: Re: Rationalizations heaped pretty high here, no?
For quite some time. If you have a problem with their reporting, it might help to actually point out where their reporting is troublesome. Over the last few years, TorrentFreak has been one of the best sites out there for finding interesting stories having to do with copyright issues and reporting on them in great detail.
Tell me again why I read the stories on this site?
You are free to not read them.
But, to come here and totally miss the point of the post, as you did, suggests that you aren't actually "reading" the stories. You have come here with a preconceived notion and you are going to complain about what you think we're saying, rather than taking the time to understand it.
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Re: Re: Re: Rationalizations heaped pretty high here, no?
ALL of you articles have a one note slant.
That said, I don't think jail time for music stealing is justified, but just what point do you think anyone has missed here?
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Re: Re: Re: Rationalizations heaped pretty high here, no?
I just think this article was extremely one-sided blindly favouring with the teen based on your own very public opinion about the topic.
It's really easy to find other articles on the internet that agree with your position (no matter what that position is) I would love to see you try to more thoroughly position both sides of an argument in your articles (the objective part I referred to).
That's the problem I have with referring to sites like torrentfreak as "reporting". At very best they are opinion pieces but not reporting. As an "Insight Company for the Information Age" I guess I expect more... insight.
But have fun quoting other people.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Rationalizations heaped pretty high here, no?
The above quote and actually the whole post sums up how Mike/Techdirt does fail to deliver too often.
You can do better Mike.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Rationalizations heaped pretty high here, no?
I just think this article was extremely one-sided blindly favouring with the teen based on your own very public opinion about the topic.
This is an opinion site. I'm sorry if you dislike my opinion. That doesn't make it wrong.
That's the problem I have with referring to sites like torrentfreak as "reporting". At very best they are opinion pieces but not reporting. As an "Insight Company for the Information Age" I guess I expect more... insight.
TorrentFreak does a ton of original reporting -- more than many big name tech news sites. It covers news that is not found elsewhere, and often gets fascinating exclusive interviews.
To claim the site does no reporting suggests ignorance about the site.
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Re: Rationalizations heaped pretty high here, no?
Oh, I love money so much, I have to keep everything I find on the ground. I also love newspapers, so I'm entitled to read it and share it with everyone. Boy, do I LOVE books! So to spread my love, I go to my library and share my love of books with thousands of friends I've never met.
FINDING stuff on the internet doesn't make you a thief to get it. The thief title belongs to the person who put it there in the first place.
"And since I LOVE it so much, and since they love it so much, and since we're young, we obviously must be entitled to it!"
Mike's Free business model says you are.
"It's not STEALING, because I'd never be so stupid as to actually PAY for anything I can get for free. Especially when that means I can now spend my money on clothes and shoes and gadgets and other things I can't steal quite so easily. At least without getting caught."
And if these things were available for free, you don't think these "young 'uns" would take advantage? Seriously, you can not be this daft.
"Oops. I got caught."
I've yet to read anywhere where the downloader was arrested. Only those that provide the download.
I think you need to understand the difference because I'm so tired of people getting upset when they think "theft" is involved, especially when the true thieves charge a dollar for a song, sues at the slightest whim, and complicates my legitimate purchase with security measures making it impossible to render on the very device it's supposed to.
And I absolutely don't believe you would pass up on free if given the chance.
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4 yrs
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Re: 4 yrs
Tagged - that's a sugarcoated word for vandalism right?
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Re:
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Try before you buy
Support services like pandora
There are lots of, dare I say, easier ways to listen to music before you buy it.
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Re:
I think the only argument that some make here is that tons of folks don't buy, but only pirate. Also when an artist makes noise about their music being stolen Mike and some posters blame the artist for being - well - a victim.
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Isn't that the definition of the mafia? What he did was illegal, I think the point of the article is the punishment didn't fit the crime.
* * * * *
Networking is not the mafia, it is the only way people can get decent jobs these days, unless you want to work at McDonald's or temp forever.
How many of us when we were kids made homemade cassette tapes of songs we taped from the radio? This is no different.
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Anybody Here Wanna Give me $5k for my MP3 Player?
According to the recording industry, these tunes are worth about $1 apiece.
How about $1k and I'll throw in the little velcro pouch?
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