Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
That's not "format shifting", it's piracy, plain and simple. I've done it myself, but I'm not kidding myself that it's anything other than piracy. Are you suggesting that right holders are doing something wrong in prosecuting people who illegally download copyrighted material?
That's a very, VERY different matter to prosecuting people who USE those tools for personal use. There appears to be some doubt in the US whether or not using DRM-removal tools is illegal (some legal authorities have voiced the opinion that it constitutes "fair use") but there's not argument by anyone that development and distribution of DRM-removal tools is not illegal. The people who develop such tools are very well aware of that.
I'm afraid that I must, with the greatest respect, disagree with you about this.
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It won't be the first time we've disagreed, but I always enjoy speaking with you.
Can you explain, though, how someone downloading Harry Potter and pulping their paper books (to maintain a 1-to-1 ratio) is different from someone sending Harry Potter off to a chop shop?
Or how someone downloading the contents of their DRM-protected DVD is different from someone buying the tools to rip the DVD?
I'm afraid that I don't see a difference, personally.