Syd -- just commending you... this is perhaps the most lucid e-mail I've
seen on this thread so far. =)
Also, this e-mail contains a lot of opinion and personal belief. If you're
prone to flaming replies, just delete this right now. Read only with an
open mind.
> Sydtech said:
>
> C'mon - if you copy a commercially released CD from a friend, you're
> pirating it. It was put out on the market for the record company and
> (hopefully) the artists to get compensated for their work, i.e. entertaining
> you.
Exactly. This is the core of the argument. When discussing legality of
copying music which you do not own, people get so caught up in the lingo
that it's hard to keep a sense of what's right/wrong and what's legal/not.
[small disclaimer: I'm a US citizen and have been for all of my life. My
comments will therefore likely show a knowledge of law
and ethics confined to the US. ]
My opinions (and interpretations) come down to this:
1) Copying a work to which you do not have a license (that is, have never
officially purchased it from an artist or someone licensed by that
artist for distribution purposes) is illegal.
2) Copying that work for your own personal uses is not likely to get you
caught by any police force.
3) Regardless of whether you get caught/charged/sued, copying a work that
you do not already own at least one legitimate copy of is theft from
the artist, their label, techs, roadies, and distributors.
4) Being theft, it is unethical (and personally deplorable) to copy a work
in this manner.
Admittedly, I have one or two minidiscs which have been copied from CD's
that friends have let me borrow (rat: read jer). At the same time, these
are works which I feel a personal obligation to purchase in the near
future, as I feel dirty whenever I listen to them.
Perhaps I suffer from moral compunctions that others simply don't feel...
that's my problem. However, I believe that most interpretations of the
law, in the context of legal action brought by an artist or label against
an individual in the United States, will end up defending the same opinions
which I hold.
> This is why I get so pissed off when people confuse the trading of boots
> with pirating. It ain't the same thing.
Yep. I trade concert boots and unreleased/limited pressings of my favorite
groups all the time. It's a great way for true fanatics to expand their
collections while meeting new people with similar interests. Burning copies
of your CD's and trading them with others, or doing the same with MD, for the
sole purpose of pooling your music collection is a disgusting thing to do, as
it raises prices for the rest of us. Furthermore, pirates are often confused
with bootleggers in the media, much like the common media confusion between
"crackers" and "hackers" ... one group is committing blatantly illegal acts
with no regard for the consequences, while the other group seeks to expand
certain fields, letting the legal lines grey a bit if they get in the way.
> Don't get me wrong - I don't feel that bad for the record companies; I think
> they rip the artists off far more than a home pirate does....this is why MP3
> scares the shit out of record companies - it makes them obsolete.
Agreed... but physically trading discs with other folks for the sole purpose
of expanding your collection with top-40 hits is stupid, illegal, and wrong.
My $0.02,
/Andrew
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