The ongoing copyright infringement legal mess continues when on May 12 a federal court ruled against the peer-to-peer file sharing site, Limewire. I don’t quite understand the legal theory. I wonder if it will go any further into the privacy of individuals. If I buy a music CD and I want to copy it so that I can put one in the car and maybe another one in the truck, does that mean I can be prosecuted? What happens if I decide I’m tired of listening to a particular CD and I want to sell it in a yard sale (which I am going to do), can I be criminally and civilly prosecuted? Isn’t the theory the same as the current P2P file sharing suits? After all, the artists and publishers aren’t being paid. I don’t know; I’m not an attorney or a judge.
The artists and music industry retailing the products are pushing the cases forward so I want to know if authors and their publishers feel that they are being cheated by our local libraries and used bookstores. It seems to me the premise is about the same as in the music industry. Do authors feel they are losing royalties whenever a library buys one book and that book is read by several hundred people? Do the publishers feel that my local library is taking a bite out of their profits by letting people read the same book again and again and again? Has anyone ever sued a used book store for reselling books without giving the authors and publishers their cut? Again, am I going to be arrested for selling books in my yard sale? Will there some day be a penalty if I decided to let a friend borrow a book?
By the same token, will I have some Fed knocking on my door to count all the DVD’s I have made with my DVD recorder? My heavens, do you know how many Agatha Christie mysteries I have recorded that were aired on PBS? I have even more Sherlock Holmes programs. Could I be arrested by Interpol if I decide to sell a DVD movie I bought at Wal-mart? If the situations are analogous, and it seems to me they are, I could be put in the pokey for the rest of my life and the rest of my lives in my next two reincarnations. Wow, the implications are mind-boggling!
I really would like to know if the P2P sharing can be compared to libraries.
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Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. And yes, I do remember when soap was used for many different things. I used to take a bath in Ivory Snow when I was a kid. Mom used vinegar and water on the windows, as well as rinsing my hair in it to make sure it would "squeak" (so she knew all the soap was out). To this day, I can't stand the smell of vinegar. LOL. I hope you'll come back and visit again soon. I have your site bookmarked now. Take care!
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