Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
You appear to be suggesting that the children of criminals are doomed to be criminals themselves. That's a very depressing outlook, and one which I suspect is not borne out by the evidence.
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I agree that children of serious criminals aren't doomed to be serious criminals. But I do expect most children of shoplifters to themselves do some shoplifting, and the children of illicit downloaders to do a little downloading.
Excessive punishments for such common offenses won't work. They will rarely be handed out, and, when they are, it will destroy public support for enforcement. Perhaps this is the reason why the Record Industry Association of America switched away from suing individuals for large amounts to their current plan for warnings and, eventually, internet access slowdowns.
If it was a choice between ruining the futures of millions of teenage downloaders by giving them a criminal record, or disrupting their eduation with jail time, and allowing piracy to continue unabated, I would have to choose the latter. There is a middle ground between jail, or a fine big enough to dent a college fund, and no sanction at all.