FIRST Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't their plan to (1) get on a P2P, (2) download "a" song from someone, (3) then sue them?
There seems to be a very easy escape from that trap. All you have to argue is that once you realized that someone accidentally downloaded a song off you (you thought you weren't sharing copyrighted materials...oops!), you immediately erased it from your hard drive and permanently got rid of ownership youself as well. In effect, you "gave" it to that person. Among the rights of a an owner of copyrighted works is the right to give it away. In effect that's what happens in my scenario. Someone took your copy and you permenently relinquished ownership of it. Unless they can prove you still have it I don't see how they can win.
I mean, I can buy a cd and give it to a friend as a birthday gift without getting sued. I just gave this song to our friendly RIAA spy instead!
Let me know what you guys think about that. I mean, if I was the RIAA I would certainly download more than one song from a suspected distributor.
SECOND I don't consider simply having songs on your hard drive and being connected to a network as fulfilling the definition of "distributing." You aren't taking any affirmative steps to send anything. People reach in and take it. You aren't making a profit, so there's no pecuniary element to it... I guess I need to brush up on my DMCA reading, but to me it sounds pretty easy to defend.
THIRD When the RIAA downloads a song from your hard drive in order to prove that you committed copyright infringement, they are doing the EXACT same thing. They relinquished owndership rights to that song that you possess when you bought. So as they download it they are in effect stealing it from *you.* They are just as guilty as you are. Last I checked Lard didn't have the right to walk into my house and reclaim his cd just because he made it.
It's the same with art. Once you bought it you can destroy it however you wish to, even over the artist's objections. So the RIAA would like you to think it can d/l your song and escape suit themselves, but they can't. They aren't a governmental entity with police powers. This is the equivalent of an undercover cop buying drugs to catch a drug-dealer.
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I have 3 points:
FIRST
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't their plan to (1) get on a P2P, (2) download "a" song from someone, (3) then sue them?
There seems to be a very easy escape from that trap. All you have to argue is that once you realized that someone accidentally downloaded a song off you (you thought you weren't sharing copyrighted materials...oops!), you immediately erased it from your hard drive and permanently got rid of ownership youself as well. In effect, you "gave" it to that person. Among the rights of a an owner of copyrighted works is the right to give it away. In effect that's what happens in my scenario. Someone took your copy and you permenently relinquished ownership of it. Unless they can prove you still have it I don't see how they can win.
I mean, I can buy a cd and give it to a friend as a birthday gift without getting sued. I just gave this song to our friendly RIAA spy instead!
Let me know what you guys think about that. I mean, if I was the RIAA I would certainly download more than one song from a suspected distributor.
SECOND
I don't consider simply having songs on your hard drive and being connected to a network as fulfilling the definition of "distributing." You aren't taking any affirmative steps to send anything. People reach in and take it. You aren't making a profit, so there's no pecuniary element to it... I guess I need to brush up on my DMCA reading, but to me it sounds pretty easy to defend.
THIRD
When the RIAA downloads a song from your hard drive in order to prove that you committed copyright infringement, they are doing the EXACT same thing. They relinquished owndership rights to that song that you possess when you bought. So as they download it they are in effect stealing it from *you.* They are just as guilty as you are. Last I checked Lard didn't have the right to walk into my house and reclaim his cd just because he made it.
It's the same with art. Once you bought it you can destroy it however you wish to, even over the artist's objections. So the RIAA would like you to think it can d/l your song and escape suit themselves, but they can't. They aren't a governmental entity with police powers. This is the equivalent of an undercover cop buying drugs to catch a drug-dealer.
Just some thoughts...