Here's some interesting reading for everyone.
Share Your Files and Go Directly to Jail?
Music, movies and similar artistic products have long been protected by the federal copyright laws. Under these laws, if you use or distribute such materials without permission of the copyright owner, you can be sued - as many file sharers discovered when they found themselves named by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in mass lawsuits, most of which resulted in settlements for several thousand dollars each.
Now our legislators want to take it further and criminalize such activities rather than leaving them (solely) under the jurisdiction of the civil system. The House Judiciary Committee recently approved a law that will make unauthorized sharing of music, movie and software files not just a tort, but a crime. That means you can go to jail for it.
Now, distributing pirated files commercially has been prosecutable for a long time, but those who gave away their files for free have generally fallen under the civil system. If the bills coming up before Congress pass, not only the file sharers but the companies - such as Kazaa - that distribute peer-to-peer file sharing software may find themselves facing lose of liberty as well as monetary penalties. These laws are, of course, heavily supported by many big players in the music, movie and software industries and, just as predictably, are opposed by advocates of the "information wants to be free" philosophy and would-be Robin Hoods who see file sharing as a modern day form of stealing from the rich to give to the poor.
Many of us, however, see danger at both ends of the spectrum. Intellectual property rights are important in an era when millions of people make a living through the production of creative non-tangible material such as songs, books, screenplays and computer programs. Insisting that anyone should have access to their material without paying for it makes no more sense than insisting that car manufacturers be forced to give away the vehicles they make to those who can't afford them or just don't want to pay.
On the other hand, a song is not the same as a car or other physical property. When you copy it, you don't deprive the original owner of its use (which has traditionally been a required legal element of the offense of theft). Assuming you aren't repackaging and selling the copied song for profit, there is no demonstrable provable loss to the original owner. Much as the industry might proclaim otherwise, there is no evidence that all, or even some, of the people who download "illegal" songs would have bought the music if the downloads weren't available.
And there are real problems that arise from criminalizing everything that we believe is morally or ethically wrong. Taking this trend to its natural conclusion would result in putting people in jail for telling lies or hanging them for committing adultery. Laws are necessary to prevent chaos and preserve an orderly society. But an overabundance of criminal laws creates an oppressive society in which the government controls our every move. The civil court system was designed to deal with those disputes between entities and individuals (for example, between the RIAA and file sharers) in which one party believes itself to have been "wronged" by the actions of another. It's served that purpose well in the past.
The Piracy Deterrence and Education Act of 2004 is one of the most prominent of several Internet-related bills that have been voted on in Congressional committees over the past few weeks (see http://www.winxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=040921ED-Piracy for more information). Other measures passed by the same committee would target the placement of spyware on users' computers without their knowledge. And of course, the CAN SPAM act led the way.
Share Your Files and Go Directly to Jail?
Music, movies and similar artistic products have long been protected by the federal copyright laws. Under these laws, if you use or distribute such materials without permission of the copyright owner, you can be sued - as many file sharers discovered when they found themselves named by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in mass lawsuits, most of which resulted in settlements for several thousand dollars each.
Now our legislators want to take it further and criminalize such activities rather than leaving them (solely) under the jurisdiction of the civil system. The House Judiciary Committee recently approved a law that will make unauthorized sharing of music, movie and software files not just a tort, but a crime. That means you can go to jail for it.
Now, distributing pirated files commercially has been prosecutable for a long time, but those who gave away their files for free have generally fallen under the civil system. If the bills coming up before Congress pass, not only the file sharers but the companies - such as Kazaa - that distribute peer-to-peer file sharing software may find themselves facing lose of liberty as well as monetary penalties. These laws are, of course, heavily supported by many big players in the music, movie and software industries and, just as predictably, are opposed by advocates of the "information wants to be free" philosophy and would-be Robin Hoods who see file sharing as a modern day form of stealing from the rich to give to the poor.
Many of us, however, see danger at both ends of the spectrum. Intellectual property rights are important in an era when millions of people make a living through the production of creative non-tangible material such as songs, books, screenplays and computer programs. Insisting that anyone should have access to their material without paying for it makes no more sense than insisting that car manufacturers be forced to give away the vehicles they make to those who can't afford them or just don't want to pay.
On the other hand, a song is not the same as a car or other physical property. When you copy it, you don't deprive the original owner of its use (which has traditionally been a required legal element of the offense of theft). Assuming you aren't repackaging and selling the copied song for profit, there is no demonstrable provable loss to the original owner. Much as the industry might proclaim otherwise, there is no evidence that all, or even some, of the people who download "illegal" songs would have bought the music if the downloads weren't available.
And there are real problems that arise from criminalizing everything that we believe is morally or ethically wrong. Taking this trend to its natural conclusion would result in putting people in jail for telling lies or hanging them for committing adultery. Laws are necessary to prevent chaos and preserve an orderly society. But an overabundance of criminal laws creates an oppressive society in which the government controls our every move. The civil court system was designed to deal with those disputes between entities and individuals (for example, between the RIAA and file sharers) in which one party believes itself to have been "wronged" by the actions of another. It's served that purpose well in the past.
The Piracy Deterrence and Education Act of 2004 is one of the most prominent of several Internet-related bills that have been voted on in Congressional committees over the past few weeks (see http://www.winxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=040921ED-Piracy for more information). Other measures passed by the same committee would target the placement of spyware on users' computers without their knowledge. And of course, the CAN SPAM act led the way.
