Quote:
Originally Posted by lestatar
^ This is exactly right and how I understand these matters, especially the end part. Not possible to nail every single downloader of U2's new CD, so do like America's "War on Drugs" attempts to do - go after the source, the dealers or the uploaders.
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Well, its not just that, but rather the way the laws are written, it is the redistribution that is illegal.
Think of it this way. When going to court, proving whether or not you have an unauthorized copy is extremely difficult, and even if they could is almost inconsequential based on how most laws are written. Due to that, they have to base their court cases on the transaction, which in that case the person breaking the laws is the person doing the giving. You have to think of having, and receiving as two separate things. If you download, but never upload, the laws you broke come in to play once you have the file. Since they can only track, and easily prove the transfer, that other part doesn't come into play for the plaintiffs or prosecution. However, almost everyone downloading also uploads, due to how modern P2P networks are designed. You're uploading parts even before the file is finished downloading. Now, I'm probably making a mess of this, at which point if I am, I'll come back when I have slept.