[Ti] [OT} All this 'anti-piracy' stuff

[John R McDaniel]

On Saturday, May 3, 2003, at 07:14  AM, b wrote:

> Downloading veterans contend that the users of peer-to-peer are 
> divided between those that simply don't buy music, and those that use 
> downloads to make more informed purchasing decisions.

This is naive reductionism. It has been said that there are two types 
of people in the world: those who divide groups into two types of 
people and those who don't. ;)

> If the 'whining' and the efforts to pervert the notions of 'copyright, 
> and  'consumer as potential 'thief', weren't enough, these greedy 
> animals have the gall [and the willing accomplices at the FCC, in 
> government, and amongst hardware/software manufacturers] to attack the 
> entire Internet community with gestapo-like legislation, ill treatment 
> of the people [us] who pay for the software/hardware/and MUSIC, in the 
> first place, and make token, belated efforts to participate in simple 
> online distribution.

It is extremely rare for governance to be anything but reactionary. 
Sad, but true that the reactions are usually ill considered and 
overbearing in their attempt to make up for lost time.

> The companies that hide behind the RIAA, and abuse the DMCA, deserve 
> whatever befalls them,

Perhaps, but do two wrongs make a right here?

> if the users of Personal Computers wake up one day [in the 
> not-too-distant future] to find their every movement restricted 
> and/or, monitored, after siding with these lying 'whiners'...well 
> then, they deserve their limited usage and lack of privacy, also.

Maybe the stance of those who "support the troops, but oppose the 
policies of the current US administration" is analogous.

You CAN support the protection and preservation of intellectual 
property WITHOUT "siding with these lying 'whiners'" as you put it. 
THAT'S what we should be working toward --a solution; not winking at 
theft and calling it a justifiable punitive action.

j mcd