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Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer
So, would you agree then that if evidence were to show that an extremely heavy fine had no benefit over a small fine in stopping illegal downloading, there would be no reason to set an extremely heavy fine? I would take this position, as it is fundamentally just to impose only the penalty absolutely necessary and no more.
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Unfortunately, given the fact that at present piracy is a virtually risk-free activity, we have no way of knowing what the effect of fines would be. I maintain, however, that a fine has to be a significant multiple of the price of the goods obtained in order to be a punishment.
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I have no interest in seeing people punished just because they get something for free, they should only be punished if they both: (i) get something for free; and (ii) getting that something for free causes a harm to someone else.
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Getting something for free harms:
A) The seller, since a certain proportion of the people who illegally downloaded it (there's no way of knowing what that proportion is, but we can reasonably assume that it's non-zero) would otherwise have legally bought it.
B) The honest purchaser, who is effectively subsidising the freeloader.