Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
If people are doing that, it's entirely proper that they should be prosecuted in accordance with the law. If the cloud makes such prosecutions easier, that's a benefit.
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Well, the cloud may make prosecution easier, but what about legit music you can't prove you rightfully own?
I have been buying CDs for so many years it's no surprise I no longer have the receipts neither do I actually remember when and what I bought. Then, when mp3s came, I converted most of my CDs (and some tapes, too) to mp3 for convenience. Worse still, I bought mp3s through online music stores which no longer exist. I have mp3s which were given free as promotions or perhaps were inside a magazine. All in all, I have a huge mp3 collection, about 2/3 of which I could possibly identify as to when and how I bought, but about 1/3 makes me wonder how it got there.
Now, assuming RIAA comes to browse through such (hypothetical) music collection in the cloud, how am I going to prove I legitimately own these files? Luckily, I live in a country which RIAA doesn't reach with their tentacles (yet?), but I can see this can be a problem for people in the country that seems proud of its civil liberties...
If you still cannot see the problem here, let's imagine some agency gets the right to come to your house and screen all your possessions. Now try and prove to them that you legitimately bought every item you have at home. If it is sensible to assume that you haven't stolen material property unless someone can prove you did, then it is also sensible that RIAA has actually to prove you have downloaded music illegally and can't just be allowed to browse through your collection, pick out items and make you prove you have them legitimately.