Questions for a P2P Downloading Panel Discussion?

George P. Burdell asks: "On April 5, Georgia Tech's Honor Advisory Council will host a panel discussion between opposing sides of the P2P downloading issue. Among other panel members, a representative from the RIAA has agreed to attend the event. The discussion is intended to raise the level of awareness of students who may think they know all they need to know about the issue. What are some of the pressing questions the tech community has for panel members on both sides of the issue?"

Comments

You are already a tool of the RIAA

[AtariAmarok]

"shelved album so they can buy it instead of having to steal it via P2P?"

Sounds like one tool talking to another, if you have bought into the ludicrous claim that it is possible to STEAL just by engaging in possible copyright infringement. They've won you over if you are already using RIAA-speak.

P2P as a tool

[Anonymous Coward]

What's your position on P2P as a content-neutral technology? Traditional protocols such as HTTP and FTP can also be used to commit copyright infringement.

Do you think that there is a qualitative difference between the two types of technology, and if so, what is that difference?

Do you think that the difference is in marketing, and if so, why do you brand all P2P as bad?

Do you think that the difference is in how easy things like Kazaa make it to commit copyright infringement, and would you declare war on HTTP if Apache was easier to set up?

It is impossible to steal using p2p

[AtariAmarok]

"Sounds more like a fool trying to reason his existance for all his illegal music files"

There is no logic to that. Pointing out the fact that one illegal situation is not another illegal situation is not a justification for one of the illegal situations. If someone objects when you call a rape a murder, do you say that they are trying to justify the rape? Same thing.

"but out-right THEFT of content via P2P (such as that cited by the OP) is just that: THEFT" "It's not copyright infringement, its CONTENT THEFT"

Theft requires a taking. If you copy something, and leave the original still sitting there, the taking requirement is not met.

Unless p2p systems DELETE the originals when/after they are copied, they just can't be theft. Come back if you ever find a p2p system that involves theft.