For all of you honest citizens who kindly remind us criminals how we shouldn’t be downloading copyrighted materials: Thanks so much. However, what you don’t seem to get is, this isn’t just about being able to get free music or movies or whatever. This is about your right to privacy. IT IS NO BUSINESS OF THE MPAA OR THE RIAA WHAT I’M DOWNLOADING OR NOT DOWNLOADING. They are corporate lobbying groups, not government law-enforcement agencies. Is it my right to download their content? No. But more importantly, is it their right to monitor what a private citizen of the U.S. (or any country, for that matter) does with an Internet connection that he/she pays for? That is an even bigger NO. And that is what is at stake here. I’m all for the FBI being able to catch terrorists, sickos, and whatnot, but the FBI is not the RIAA or MPAA. You seem to think people like Wolverine blind and unreasoning. Perhaps. But you are just as bad in your own way. Maybe worse. Because you’re willing to bend over for the RIAA/MPAA and let your rights go down the river. Maybe Wolverine is not willing to listen to reason. But neither are you. And given the choice of two extremes, I’d rather be in his camp than yours. Is downloading copyrighted material wrong? Yes. Does it mean I cost the copyright owner money? Yes, if I download something that I’d have otherwise purchased to get. But put this wrong against what the RIAA/MPAA/their ilk want, to look over your shoulder at everything you download, whether copyrighted or not, just in case it is, and you get a nice police state where big brother (in this case corporations) are watching you. Maybe you don’t mind living in such a state, but I (and I’m sure many others) do. So while you’re standing on your high-horse, holier-than-thou pedestal, preaching at Wolverine, you might want to keep in mind that some of the people that have issues with P2P monitoring and the tactics of the media companies (and their hired thugs) might not only have them because they want free stuff. It’s a bigger issue than that. Copyright owners rights protect them, the copyright owners. The rights of the Individual protect EVERYONE, that’s why they should take precedence. When things like the Patriot Act went through congress in the wake of the terrorist bastards attack on the New York, the RIAA tried to glom their provisions onto this type of legislation, under the guise of fighting terrorism. Fortunately, they were caught in the act of this disgusting bit of opportunistic self-serving and their provisions were yanked. But this should give one some perspective into the character of the people behind these groups. Their ends do not justify their means. And it is because of shortsighted arguments (you sound like the kid who used to tell on the others in school) that these groups have gotten as far as they have. Where is the morality in buying the law? The one who has the most money gets his/her way? Why do you think so many have pushed for campaign reform? Maybe allowing corporations to give money to congressman isn’t such a good idea… Gee, do ya think maybe those corporations give money in hopes of getting something back? Like maybe a congressman who votes the way the corporate money wants them to? Huh, could that happen? No one is asking you to condone stealing, but another way has to be found. The RIAA/MPAA stance is just big money further eroding what rights you, the individual, have left. And you can argue their points for them, but they probably don’t need your help. But I’m sure they appreciate it. Maybe Congress should vote for their constituencies, that’s why they’re supposed to be in office. Maybe I could tell them this, but I don’t have the $100 per-plate fund-raising fee they want to have lobbyists (like the RIAA/MPAA) join them to discuss it over breakfast. But luckily, Hilary Rosen (or her replacement) and lifetime politician Jack Valenti (who has been hanging around Washington at least since Nixon) have the money (we gave it to them), so we’ll just trust them to have our best interests at heart. Valenti in particular once infamously likened the VCR/consumer to the Boston strangler/woman alone scenario. And now VCR/DVD makes up over half of Hollywood’s revenue. Hmmm. And this is the guy who is trying to shape the future of consumer choice. It’s all about control. They have it (or had it) and they want to maintain the status quo. P2P is a perceived threat, so they let their money persuade Congress to allow privacy rights to be trampled. And man, this post is way too long so I’m going to try and wrap it up. Especially since some may not like it, and for all I know, they might have repealed the Right of Free Speech by tagging the repeal onto the tail end of some legislation about Congress giving itself a pay raise and letting it pass into law by ignoring it, thereby not having gone on the Congressional record as having voted to give themselves a raise. Wow, can these people cover themselves or what? - And by the way, Alimoniumfood, your statement of “This is why alot of people caught do end up going to jail; because they cannot prove otherwise and cannot run away from the truth in the court room.” is all well and good, except that the United States, believe it or not, was founded on the principal of “Innocent until proven guilty”. The accused should not HAVE to prove otherwise or else go to jail. The burden of proof is on the prosecution. Maybe the Founding Fathers had the right idea in mind. Not that they’d recognize the country anymore. I don’t expect you to appreciate this right until it’s your ass that they want to send to jail, where you can meet your new boyfriend. Then you’ll be screaming for every right you can get. Again, this rant is not about condoning piracy; it’s about standing up for rights that are yours, and not letting corporations sell them out from under you. But it’s nice to know we have people such as yourself to point out how wrong downloading copyrighted material is, and how selfish all of us that do it are. Where will they house the millions of us with an illegal MP3 on our hard drives? When millions of people are breaking the law, maybe it’s time to start looking at whether it should be a law in the first place. And before you bother to say it, no, if you take that argument to it’s logical conclusion, I am not saying that if everyone decided to start stealing cars or assaulting people then these acts should not be considered criminal. Millions of people speed everyday, and they pay fines. But do those fines make the highways any safer? Or keep the offender from ever speeding again? Probably not. But they do make money for states, counties and townships. And maybe that’s the point of the ticket. Wolverine won’t see your point. But neither are you willing to see his. But Valenti, Rosen and company certainly like your sensible attitude. Now if only the rest of us would fall in line and start paying for all the content we have, even if we wouldn’t have bought it in the first place, if the only option was paying an illegal fixed-price for it. But the record companies wouldn’t do that to us. They’re as honest as the day is long. Too bad they don’t think the same about their customers. That’s you and me, by the way. Or we used to be. :c
Deal? ok good. :8 We all learn one way or another…