-J- and All: On Fri, 13 Feb 2004, Jon Copeland wrote:
> ... I was under the impression that it was LEGAL to download music in > Canada, just as long as you didn't SHARE it. You may be correct and we may have a subtle semantics problem here. It may or may not be legal to download a piece of music from some other computer for your own personal enjoyment just as it may or may not be legal to burn a copy of a friend's cd for your use only, but it's illegal to allow or (Heaven forfend!) encourage others to download that music from your computer or copy your cd for their use or enjoyment. In that case you become a dealer who is cheating the artists of their fair (or oppressive) royalties. It's a little like the pot laws in some places: It's legal to possess small quantities of maryjane (and no one is supposed to wonder where you got it?), but you'd better not get caught selling it! It's just another example of the idiocy of our laws and the stupidity of the people who enact them. Sometimes I wonder who are more brain damaged, the politicians or the bureaucrats! I got the impression that the 29 people who they were pursuing made a hobby or business of allowing, even encouraging anybody and everybody to download music en mass. They violated the 3 basic rules of survival: 1. Keep your head down. (If you want to allow others to download music from your computer, don't be blatant about it. Make sure your customers have to log in and impose some security measures so you know who they are.) 2. Keep your mouth shut. (Don't be stupid enough to advertise a clandestine operation. Rely on word of mouth.) 3. Keep moving. (Switch URLs often. Your customers can find you using keywords and Google when they want to. The bureaucrats aren't normally quite that bright. Or, at least they're always a week late.) If you get caught you were either stupid to try it in the first place or too stupid to successfully run the operation in the final analysis. As an example, the only bookies that you ever hear about are the ones that got caught. The successful ones are retired in the Bahamas! Cheers Peace, health, wisdom and wealth. Live long and prosper. Stan Schultz Marguerite Schultz 4411 Edmonton Trail. NE Calgary, Alberta T2E 3V7 CANADA Phone (days): (403) 220-8570 (Leave message.) Phone (eves): (403) 230-1911 (Leave message.) Phone (cell): (403) 667-6697 (Forget it! It's never on!) FAX (24 hrs): (403) 270-8928 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/ "We are *NOT* tourists! We've been here for just hours and hours!" ***************************************************************** GREAT NEWS! You should visit http://www.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/motorhome.html. ***************************************************************** _______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca
