Quote:
Originally posted by assorted
so far, in america and almost every other country, what is being done on kazzaa and all the other p2p networks, and ftps, and everwhere else, is considered illegal. not only is it considered illegal, it is considered theft.
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people are working on the legal problems.
the supreme court in the only relevant ruling so far has made it clear: home taping is legal. furthermore, the distribution of that tape is legal. you can do whatever you want with it. the difference now is that congress made a couple of new laws that they say supersede the supreme court's ruling. the problem for the congress and the riaa is that it's always a gamble overruling the supreme court. the court may declare these new digital laws unconstitutional as well.
so to date:
no one's been convicted of copying their personal music items or those of anyone else’s, analog, digital or otherwise - for personal use. furthermore, under the laws that might apply, where prosecutors have actually brought cases (the digital laws that is), the state has not delivered a single conviction. it's not for lack of trying, there have been arrests and trials for distribution and publishing (like holland’s dvd jon and the russian programmer) but no jury has returned a guilty verdict.
prosecutors love to win. if they thought they could score easy victories they’d be busting people for file sharing left and right just like they do for graffiti tagging, substance abuse, soliciting, or the dozens of other smaller crimes people get dragged in for every day. on the other hand they hate losing even more than they love winning and i think they know getting a jury to convict is a very iffy proposition.
also of note:
in europe performance copyrights end after 50 years so all those songs from the “20s, 30s and 40s” and now up until 1953 are perfectly legal to share, i happily
noted a while ago. they’re public domain in europe mdneer. you could even sell them if you wanted. not that i recommend it but that’s legal too.
meanwhile my present favs:
soulseek and imesh. love 'em both.
- js.