RAPIDSHARE WEB SITE

[dmaul1114]

Well, their are legit uses. I uses it some times to get big data sets back and forth to colleagues when collaborating on research projects etc. as many files are way too big to e-mail etc.

So you can't punish the sites. As I've said repeatedly, criminal laws just need to be updated to cover illegal distribution and downloading of digital versions of books, music, movies etc. And we need an agency to monitor such sites and arrest those violating the new laws by uploading or downloading copyrighted material.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

As I've said repeatedly, criminal laws just need to be updated to cover illegal distribution and downloading of digital versions of books, music, movies etc.

There are already laws for that.

And we need an agency to monitor such sites and arrest those violating the new laws by uploading or downloading copyrighted material.

You want to arrest people for copyright infringement?

BTW, if you want to arrest people for downloading copyrighted material, you might as well throw everyone in jail. I'm sure you've downloaded plenty of copyrighted material yourself, it's practically impossible to use the internet without doing it.

[dmaul1114]

The point is, that in the future there will be no physical copies of stuff anymore.

Thus illegal downloading will be as close as theft as you can get in the all digital era.

And no, you don't throw people in jail, just like you don't throw people in jail for petty theft/shoplifting for stealing a book or CD. It's a minor misdemeanor that gets a small fine and maybe some community service, maybe probation for repeat offenders.

The law will have to adapt to deal with an era where many types of products are digital only and traditional theft is no longer possible.

[drmaxx]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

The point is, that in the future there will be no physical copies of stuff anymore.
Thus illegal downloading will be as close as theft as you can get in the all digital era.

The word theft in connection with copyright is probably one of the most clever campaigns that successfully spred something just plain wrong. (However, "I am loving it" is coming close).

The copyright laws regulates the distribution of a creation and the rights of the creators. Theft has nothing to do with it.

However, I agree with your notion that downloading copyrighted material illicitly is morally wrong.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

I'm sure all the people who were prosecuted for illegally downloading music will be happy to hear that.

The problem with most p2p protocols (from the point of view of Copyright Infringer ;-) ) is, that when you are downloading the file, you are also automatically uploading the parts of the file you have already downloaded. This is the foundation of the p2p principle. So when I am downloading the newest Debian, or Mint Linux, or some very obscure Slax modification from a torrent, I am also contributing my outgoing bandwidth for other downloaders. This way the Kororaa Linux Distribution author does not have to purchase lots of expensive bandwidth out of his own pocket to spread his distro. p2p network works like a pyramid scheme - the more people are downloading the more resources are available.

Many people that use p2p networks, with the use of various *torrent programs, or the likes of KaZaA. Gnutella, limewire often do not understand what they are doing. So - a not-very-well-informed user downloads a song, listens to it once and then forgets [s]he has it, or even that there is some p2p client installed on the machine. Many of those programs are by default configured in such a way that they are started in background every time an operating system starts. And once they are started they automatically share everything you have ever downloaded - unless, of course, you remove the freshly downloaded file from the "\Program Files\uTorrent\Downloaded" (or whatever) directory immediately after downloading.
Downloading from Rapidshare is different. This is not p2p network. You are not uploading anything. So in many countries you are legally "clear" when you download something copyrighted from Rapidshare, file.it, megaupload, plunder, [insert you favourite site here].

[StanByk]

Whether downloading is legal or not depends on the country you are in. For instance, it is completely legal to download copyright protected files in Germany. Its offering which is illegal. Straight downloading is fine, but if you use a torrent client, by default you are also offering the file to other people for downloading and this is illegal.
What I just said is true for Germany, but obviously might be completely different in other countries.

Originally Posted by TGS

What I meant was what the previous poster mentioned, there are lots of files on there that the uploader has no right to be distributing, and downloading those files is not legit. Of course, if someone has put files up there that they own the copyright to, or where no copyright exists, both the uploading and the downloading are legit.

[raiderkilo]

In most countries EU is illegal sharing protective materials

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by drmaxx

The word theft in connection with copyright is probably one of the most clever campaigns that successfully spred something just plain wrong. (However, "I am loving it" is coming close).

The copyright laws regulates the distribution of a creation and the rights of the creators. Theft has nothing to do with it.

However, I agree with your notion that downloading copyrighted material illicitly is morally wrong.

But in the future, when there are NO physical products in some industries to be stolen, lost, damaged etc., illegal downloads will be the only way the owners of the material can lose out on sales of it.

So the legal code has to change. If you don't want to call it theft--fine call it piracy or some other term. They key is it should be a minor criminal violation on par with the misdemeanor theft penalties attached to stealing a book, CD etc. as in the digital age it is the equivalent of theft.

The company got none of your money, and you have a copy of the book/album/movie you didn't pay for. Same as theft, other than the loss of a physical copy--so sure don't call it theft if that bothers you.

But the penalty should be much the same as the company is out a sale and you still have a copy of the material you didn't pay for, and the "wrongness" of the act morally is about the same as stealing a physical copy.

Of course, such a legal switch needs to be accompanied by DRM being removed or made much less restrictive. Having pretty liberal and clearly defined fair use laws outlining what you can do with digital content you did pay for etc., so people aren't having to break laws to just get reasonable usage out of content they do own.

But once that's done, pirates need to be dealt with as minor criminals, not just hit with silly huge law suits that will never be collected on in civil suits.

Most will never get caught, but that's the nature of crime. The vast majority of shoplifting incidents aren't detected and punished. But there are many fewer shoplifting incidents than if it wasn't a criminal matter. Same with speeding. Most everyone does, but we'd all drive much faster if there were no speed limits to be enforced with criminal fines, loss of driver's license etc.