Download Uproar: Record Industry Goes After Personal Use

[sgt.null]

i agree with the posting it where many people can rip it. but the mix tape i make for friends?

[Cagliostro]

Ahh...this argument is just a lot of legal mumbo jumbo that keeps the lawyers in bidnuss. To which I say,

[wayfriend]

"There's a little Captain in all of us."

[Loredoctor]

i have a problem with a record company insisting they still own something i purchased.

But not a problem with allowing an artist to be ripped off?

and these are record companies that exist due to their abuse of their artists. the artists that they claim to protect.

I don't agree with your reasoning; not every company does that to artists. Besides, pirating still doesn't mean the artist wins. He or she loses money. End of story.

[Loredoctor]

i agree with the posting it where many people can rip it. but the mix tape i make for friends?

One and the same.

[CovenantJr]

i have a problem with a record company insisting they still own something i purchased.

How are you still not getting this? You don't own the music, only the piece of plastic it comes on.

and these are record companies that exist due to their abuse of their artists. the artists that they claim to protect.

It's very easy to gripe about the evils of record companies, and yes, sometimes they do abuse the artists. Without record companies, however, our access to music would be massively diminished. No-one would be able to record anything of decent quality. There'd be almost no distribution or retail. In short, the record companies you so malign are also the ones who enable you to hear the music in the first place.

[Cail]

With you 100% Cov.Jr.

Null, I think you're being obtuse. Should you be allowed to Xerox a book and hand it out to your friends?

[Loredoctor]

> Think Tank

[CovenantJr]

Noooooo!

[The Laughing Man]

if I own the legal rights to a piece of plastic, why can't I give it or sell it? What if I buy two copies of the same cd? Or one on cassette and the other on cd?

[Loredoctor]

if I own the legal rights to a piece of plastic, why can't I give it or sell it? What if I buy two copies of the same cd? Or one on cassette and the other on cd?

You could copy the plastic for a friend. As I understand it, the circle of plastic for the White Album is very popular.

[sgt.null]

With you 100% Cov.Jr.

Null, I think you're being obtuse. Should you be allowed to Xerox a book and hand it out to your friends?

because i refuse to bow to the groupHUG here?

[Loredoctor]

With you 100% Cov.Jr.

Null, I think you're being obtuse. Should you be allowed to Xerox a book and hand it out to your friends?

because i refuse to bow to the groupthink here?

That's really uncalled for, Null and very immature.

[sgt.null]

oh please. i should accept that my property actually belongs to some conglomerate because everyone here says so? did i bitch when called an idiot here? but i have somehow insulted someone here?

so i will apologize if i have offended anyone...

[The Laughing Man]

I wouldn't apologize if I were you sarge. you clearly have the right to be offended here.

I don't think calling anyone an idiot or immature is appropriate in this forum?

[Loredoctor]

oh please. i should accept that my property actually belongs to some conglomerate because everyone here says so?

It's got nothing to do with some company, Null. The property belongs to the artist, and they have the right to make a profit of their work. That's all we're saying.

did i bitch when called an idiot here?

No, but you called everyone who disagrees with you 'groupthink'. If you don't like it don't do the same to others. As it is, I have treated you with respect here and you can't be bothered to do the same; all because I disagree with you. Nice work, Null.

[Loredoctor]

I don't think calling anyone an idiot or immature is appropriate in this forum?

It kind of is when you decide to group label everyone who disagrees with you. Some of us didn't actually attack Null - the most extreme was CovJr's use of 'obtuse'.

[The Laughing Man]

the fact that you have failed to convince him with the logic of your argument does not give you the right to shout at him and disparage him for disagreeing with you. RESPECT.

[DukkhaWaynhim]

i agree with the posting it where many people can rip it. but the mix tape i make for friends?

One and the same.

This is again a matter of scale. Legally, the two above actions are indistinguishable as violations of copyright. Though we as a group seem to be disagreeing here, I'll wager that we all agree that posting a copy of an MP3 file in a share directory where 10,000 strangers can download it is an obvious violation of copyright that should be punished. Legally, the RIAA would prefer to have no barriers to prosecuting such people to the fullest extent, because that's the harm to their profits.
Making a mix tape, legally, is also a violation of copyright - if you intend to give it to someone who never purchased the original media. However, it is infinitely less likely to be prosecuted, because mixtapes aren't going to kill the record industry - the RIAA doesn't have time to care about mix tapes when there are people rampantly sharing uncounted digitally-perfect replicas of their product to anyone with an internet connection.

Again, the dangerous waters exist where we struggle to figure out how to enable the RIAA juggernaut to go after the real pirates - without allowing or incentifying them to pursue people who are, e.g., rather harmlessly making mix tapes to share with a few friends, or placing a digital copy of their CDs on a private home network so anyone in the house can listen from any room.

They might both be copyright infringement - the difference in scale is enough to make the distinction as to which deserves legal action... but unless the law is written and interpreted to make that distinction, one party or the other is going to exploit it for unintended gain... and we *all* lose when that happens.

dw

[Loredoctor]

the fact that you have failed to convince him with the logic of your argument does not give you the right to shout at him and disparage him for disagreeing with you. RESPECT.

Capitalising isn't always shouting. I did it to emphasize a point, but I'll edit it to avoid any problems. But will Null take back his groupthink comment? I doubt it. Respect does go both ways.