Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
It's not just large corporations who are affected by piracy - it's "normal" people, too. I'm a software developer, and I'm constantly seeing my software illegally sold on eBay, offered for download on torrent sites, and Usenet newsgroups, etc etc, and, on the whole, there's absolutely nothing I can do about it. I'm not alone in this; innumerable other software authors, books authors, musicians, etc, see their work pirated in this way, too.
Piracy hurts "ordinary people" and, given that most people do not have the resources to be able to take legal action to prevent it, we have to rely on governments to put laws in place to protect us.
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Let me be clear, which is not my forté.
I think you,the "small guy", if you will, should be able to stop the piracy or be compensated for loss of income. I would like the government to enforce that, and I would gladly help foot the taxpayer bill. But you won't be compensated, because law-enforcement by and large has limited resources and will always go after pirating that affects the big corporations and big money. There should be laws on the books right now that can help you, so get a lawyer.
What I am afraid of is more government (by which I mean corporate lackey) control of the internet. Which I am not willing to help pay for. But with SOPA and the other bills mentioned in the OP that seems to be the trend. I don't want pirating to become an excuse for more control of the internet. And to add insult to injury, I don't want to help pay for it.