> Ignoring laws one doesn't agree with is the only true moral path, as > long > as one is ready to face the consequences. Though I doubt Gandhi would > have > fasted for Napster.
So I can ignore ANY law with which I personally disagree? Uh, sure. Right. Sure you can. Everyone does almost every day. We can't avoid it because most no one has much idea what the laws are these days. I imagine hardly anyone lives in a house that meets ALL the local building code. You may pay a price. That is life. Everything worth doing has a cost. Just have to figure out where you stand on the issues that mean something to you. There are several areas that I would willingly break the law in, they are important enough for me to be worth the cost. Downloading copywrit music is not one of them though. Stealing it is. The makers of the music, both the artists AND the companies that distribute it pay a price, in time, effort, risk, to produce it. Music companies go bust all the time. It is not some magical industry that is immune to market forces. If too many people steal their property, they go broke, and all of the PEOPLE, real people, who invested their time and money and talent, lose out. You can not separate the "Mega-Corporation" from the people who own it and work in it. Those are the people who you are stealing from. The corporation is a legal fiction, the artists and owners and workers are not. It is not different from the loser who cuts your bike lock and rides off on your bike. It is just stealing. There are cases where defense of copywrite is taken to ridiculous extremes, as when the Girl Scouts are sued for using copywrit songs in their campfire sing-alongs (happened!). This is a pretty important issue, and it is related to the iMac, in that the whole computer industry suffers from copywrite theft. I would like some serious, un-insulting discussion of this issue on the list. -- The iMac List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | - Epson Stylus Color 580 Printers - new at $69 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> iMac List info: <http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:imac-list@;mail.maclaunch.com> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:imac-list-off@;mail.maclaunch.com> For digest mode, email: <mailto:imac-list-digest@;mail.maclaunch.com> Subscription questions: <mailto:listmom@;lemlists.com> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/imac-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
