Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Outlawing P2P
I read an article on CNet News about a law in California that would send developers to jail and give them records for not taking "reasonable care" to prevent copyright infringement.
I strongly disagree with this. Copyright has always been a civil law, which is how it should stay. When, say, a song is downloaded, nobody is deprived of the use of physical property like in theft. A company simply has a lower chance of making money, that's all. There is no right to profit.
In general, I think the penalty for noncommercial copyright infringement vastly outweighs the gravity of the offence. As far as I'm concerned, if nobody is making money off it, copyright infringement should be either
a) Completely legal
or
b) A civil offence with fines on the level of $100-on the level of a speeding ticket.
Making money off somebody else's work is wrong, but I don't see much wrong with downloading a song.
I strongly disagree with this. Copyright has always been a civil law, which is how it should stay. When, say, a song is downloaded, nobody is deprived of the use of physical property like in theft. A company simply has a lower chance of making money, that's all. There is no right to profit.
In general, I think the penalty for noncommercial copyright infringement vastly outweighs the gravity of the offence. As far as I'm concerned, if nobody is making money off it, copyright infringement should be either
a) Completely legal
or
b) A civil offence with fines on the level of $100-on the level of a speeding ticket.
Making money off somebody else's work is wrong, but I don't see much wrong with downloading a song.
