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Originally Posted by Soldim
It is clear that the individual downloaders are breaching the, in this case UK, law. What is against going after them from a legal point of view?
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Nothing at all, but it would be ruinously expensive for the defendant. In a British court, the losing side pays all the legal costs of both sides. It might cost £50,000 for a rights-holder to gather the information needed to prosecute a downloader. Do you think it's fair for a downloader to get a £50,000 judgement against them for downloading 1 song? I would consider it to be grossly disproportionate to the offence, but that would be the result of what you're proposing.
It also effectively restricts justice to those who can afford it, and that's something that your posts suggest that you're against. I, as an individual software author, can't afford to take an illegal downloader to court. Do you want justice to only be available to the wealthy? I don't.
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Of course I understand the disadvantages -- individual downloaders vote, and if they get harassed enough they might vote somebody in office that can't be bought by large corporations. Also, they might start to push for legislation that limits the advantages large corporations have granted themselves with regards to IP.
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Again you're implying that piracy is something that only affects "large corporations". Nothing could be further from the truth. Piracy affect everybody who creates things - software authors, books authors, and musicians.