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Wrong

Posted by J (A) on March 23, 2007 at 14:01:13

In Reply to: Look, J posted by markrohr on March 23, 2007 at 11:54:24:

I didn't associate myself with his remarks, only part of them. Yes, I find it insulting that not only have you refused to acknowledge that yr premise is not on the correct side of the law, but that it's irrelevant, because only the moral of whether or not someone is willing to steal is important, thereby by implication you are suggesting that this is my stance when it is not, not by a long shot. I do not justify Sordidman's remarks that the only 'theft' going on is what the industry does to artists & consumers; I don't entirely disagree, but I would never put it in those terms, and my claim that what he is referring to, when enumerated specifically, points to the lack of credibility of the RIAA in the discussion, and nothing else. This to you amounts to a rationalization of his attitude? I think not, because I am fully behind, as I also have stated previously, the appropriate punishment and/or fines to be sanctioned against those engaged in illegal file-sharing.

When someone feels that way, and someone else comes along & suggests that they are engaging in 'rationalization' and using terms like 'theft' when legal experts strongly claim this to be inaccurate, especially since this has never been found to be the case in a court of law, you're darned tootin' it's insulting. No less than the brouhaha of a few years ago that I mentioned. And no, I'm not looking for a confrontation with you, either, Mark, but you're the one telling me I'm on the side of thieves even as you agree with most of what I've said here. Well, if I am, then so is the Wall St. Journal, the University of Nebraska, and major label executives.

None of which speaks to yr point, but I can't understand why you refuse to see that morality is difficult to define when the law has not done so.

Did you ever make a cassette recording of a work that you did not own the copyright for? By yr standard, that's theft too. I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but I don't care. Either you condone theft, or you don't, right? Well, Home Taping Is Killing Music, remember?

Theft, or copyright infringement? Still theft? Then unless you are going to seriously tell me you never made a cassette of an album or ever taped off the radio, then you're a thief too, and on that basis, you have no right to judge. And I figure you probably find this line of reasoning to be annoying, but I defy you to come up with a basis as to why it should be considered incorrect.

Do you have a wireless network in your house? Have you encrypted it since the time you first turned it on? Hey, here's another point that I'm sure you'll be willing to dismiss since you've turned a deaf ear to what it is I'm saying here, because yr point about morality must trump any other regarding legalities: what if it was YR IP address that was spoofed & YOU got a subpoena? How would you feel then?

Think maybe you'd feel sorta like the guy who lives in Florida but was served with a subpoena in Michigan?

I'm not a computer expert, but I'm not exactly a novice, either. When I first got my router, I didn't know enough to have it locked down. Then I opened iTunes one day & there was "**** ********'s Music" on the left hand side. The name was that of my next-door neighbor.

Had he been a downloader--and I wouldn't put it past him--then I might have found myself on the wrong side of a lawsuit, in spite of my never having had file-sharing software on any of my computers hooked up to the network. Fortunately, at this point in time, I believe I would've been notified if my IP address had been the source of illegal uploading, resulting in RIAA operatives downloading music from whatever computers were illegally accessing MY network.

This is why the deposition given by the expert witness from Iowa is important. Because people are being sued whose computers were found to have never contained file-sharing software--by the same expert who offered this deposition, no less!--let alone the infringing files. And even so, the RIAA is refusing to even compensate the wronged parties with compensation for legal fees.

So because I stand up & say this is wrong, you maintain that I am offering up rationalizations. No, I'm afraid, I don't see your point here. Because it's entirely separate from this discussion. It wouldn't be if the RIAA had a more efficient method of pinpointing exactly who is engaging in all of this illegal file-sharing, but they don't. They could've invested money in manpower and technology to keep from disrupting the lives of innocent people, but they didn't. Instead of throwing a few million dollars at the hacker community to try to come up with a more efficient solution, they have invested in releases by people like Paris Hilton, Kevin Federline, Lindsay Lohan, and on and on.

It's not difficult to cast blame on the downloaders themselves, but it's an obvious exercise, which is why I won't engage in rationalizations about THEIR behavior, though you've accused me of exactly that. My problem lies with the means employed to correct the problem, the vagueness of the laws involved, and the tactics employed by the plaintiffs, especially regard to their refusal to compensate wronged parties.

Separate issue from downloading, whether you want to erroneously call it theft, or whether you're willing to call it what it actually is.

Would that you'd see that it doesn't take a genius to understand that the concept of instilling values in children relative to rationalizing illegal activities, or, by itself the mere rationalization of illegal activities, is the part of the discussion that I agree with you on, even as you are trying to claim otherwise because I disagree with methods resulting in legal action taken against innocent people.

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