Quote:
Originally Posted by hrosvit
And what about deliberately open networks? If I go to Panera, or Starbucks, or McDonalds, or the public library, and download copyrighted material, does that mean the RIAA/MPIAA/whomever can now go after McDonalds? For a while, the city of Philadelphia was planning to install a free wireless network for the entire city (boy, is that a terrible idea). In that case, if I had been anywhere in Philadelphia downloading copyrighted material, can the city be held responsible for the act? Or, more in depth, do you know who actually owns the network at most McDonalds? AT&T; they own more than 100,000 free public wireless networks in the US. Why? To get mobile users off their cellular network, and onto wifi, thereby reducing the load on their cellular network. So, if I download copyrighted material at McDonalds, can AT&T be held responsible? I'd actually like to see the RIAA/MPIAA/Publishers go after AT&T. Obviously, this wouldn't happen, but it would be entertaining to watch.
The bottom line is that although piracy is bad, and we should attempt to pursue it and stop it, this is not a viable solution. IP address does not equal bad guy.
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Those companys have money to defend themselves and are not easy wins for the RIAA