JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Petition to stop P2P-users abuses

The biggest difference is that what is legal about taping on the radio is making 1 copy for personal use, not putting those recordings up for sale or trade to millions of people on demand. Also, if you suggest that kids are only using downloads/file shares for personal use, it's still different. Through radio and TV play, people ARE being compensated for that performance. Via file sharing, no one is.

It's interesting that people who steal will always justify it. In the business world, it's common for disgruntled employees who steal to say "the company didn't pay me enough or treated me badly" to explain why they stole stuff. But no one forced them to go to work there. And it still doesn't justify the theft. If someone has committed illegal actions (i.e. a label has or a company has against an employee) the solution isn't to steal from them.. the solution it to hold them accountable for whatever crime they might have committed.. but committing another crime solves nothing but makes everyone wrong. In the case of these kids and adults to file share, no one has done them wrong.. they're just taking advantage of a low risk form of shoplifting which is worse, but they are then multiplying the theft to friends and anonymous trading partners around the world over and over. I think it's great that there's at least a tiny risk to them to have their hands slapped if they're caught. Now they know there's a risk. If they keep doing it.. they deserve the punishment. No different than they know if they shoplift, and get caught, it's probably going to hurt.

Brian