The law says it is a violation to make unauthorized copies of material available under copyright. This is the foundation on which creative people make a living.
What I read here is a lot of self serving justifications for violations of that law and a suggestion that we premise an honor system based on people who entered the system through such violations of the law. After all, we can trust them of all people!
What we have here is another example of the “something for nothing” crowd. We see it in the Tea Party followers who tell us they want an end to deficit spending but won't tolerate any discussion that taxes be raised or Medicare or Social Security or any other program that serves them be cut. We see it with Republicans demanding that all economic stimulus spending be paid for, even unemployment insurance extensions, but refuse to pay for Bush tax extenders. We see it in the demands by a Louisiana governor for unabated Gulf oil exploration even as he's demanding that the oil spill containment be stepped up. These people are living in
Bizarro World.
Rudy Giuliani prosecuted minor crime infractions and changed the culture in NYC. I say it's time to prosecute all copyright unauthorized copying violations, every last one. It wouldn't trouble me one bit to see many here owing thousands to the music, movie, video game and book industries.
BTW, copyright law is too complicated and it, too, exists in Bizarro World. I offer as evidence the excellent film:
Sita Sings The Blues. Now here's a film where the rights to make copies has been freely given away. Take the time to download the extras (available on the DVD image) and listen to Nina Paley describe her ordeals with archaic copyright law. It's an eye opener. I don't doubt that some people would want to use this condition as yet another justification for their violations but of course that's just more self serving dribble. Consider this, Nina Paley came to terms with copyright law difficult as it was.
