Obviously. Or consider the possibility that I could be a regular slashdot reader who became weary of the preponderance of RIAA "tyranny" posts. How much profile should I fill out, anyway? I didn't spend that much time trying to figure it out.
I do rip.MP3s for personal use, and even from library CDs for the period of time that I have the item checked out. Perhaps surprisingly, I have no fear of the RIAA investigating my personal or work computer and prosecuting me for this. If I listen to a CD enough times, I even go buy it without feeling guilty at supporting the music establishment.
As a netadmin at a small educational institution I block P2P traffic on our network, and I allege that almost universally those who use these P2P systems are doing it to obtain copyrighted material for free, and that they will justify it with whatever theory is handy, from the classic "I forgot it was illegal" (Steve Martin) to "stick it to the imperialist capitalist pigs". I'm not worried about infringing on the dubious rights of the tiny minority that might be using bittorrent for legitimate uses on our network.
Reading the average slashdot post that has anything to do with the RIAA has become a lot like reading a book by Kevin Trudeau. Shocking claims provoke a slight effort of investigation (in this case reading the paragraph on p. 15 of the linked.PDF), which reveals the substantial or complete distortion of the truth by the original poster. I'm just going to boycott all future RIAA posts, so take that, you cabal of conspirators against copyright law enforcement.
Slashdot Mirror
Obviously. Or consider the possibility that I could be a regular slashdot reader who became weary of the preponderance of RIAA "tyranny" posts. How much profile should I fill out, anyway? I didn't spend that much time trying to figure it out. I do rip .MP3s for personal use, and even from library CDs for the period of time that I have the item checked out. Perhaps surprisingly, I have no fear of the RIAA investigating my personal or work computer and prosecuting me for this. If I listen to a CD enough times, I even go buy it without feeling guilty at supporting the music establishment.
As a netadmin at a small educational institution I block P2P traffic on our network, and I allege that almost universally those who use these P2P systems are doing it to obtain copyrighted material for free, and that they will justify it with whatever theory is handy, from the classic "I forgot it was illegal" (Steve Martin) to "stick it to the imperialist capitalist pigs". I'm not worried about infringing on the dubious rights of the tiny minority that might be using bittorrent for legitimate uses on our network.
Reading the average slashdot post that has anything to do with the RIAA has become a lot like reading a book by Kevin Trudeau. Shocking claims provoke a slight effort of investigation (in this case reading the paragraph on p. 15 of the linked .PDF), which reveals the substantial or complete distortion of the truth by the original poster. I'm just going to boycott all future RIAA posts, so take that, you cabal of conspirators against copyright law enforcement.