[news] College students nailed for illegal music downloads

Thunderfoot said:

Too political, I ain't touchin' it.

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Copyright issues are "political"?

Uh, okay.

GlassJaw said:

Old news.

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Actually, no, it isn't. The story appeared on MSN yesterday.

Piratecat said:

Wise.

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So it's okay to have a thread making fun of the U.S. Army, but a person is "wise" to avoid talking about copyright??

Man, I'd love to see the moderator's handbook one of these days. :\

Pardon me for being simple about it but they are breaking the law, they should be punished. I think its a silly law, yes but I am still responsible if I break it. I am guessing the reason they target Colleges is because that is where the majority of illegal downloading occurs. Also, targeting kids in Colleges gets more press coverage than just targeting "Joe Smith" the individual. More press coverage means that perhaps more people will be scared to download songs illegally.

Goldmoon said:

Pardon me for being simple about it but they are breaking the law, they should be punished. I think its a silly law, yes but I am still responsible if I break it. I am guessing the reason they target Colleges is because that is where the majority of illegal downloading occurs. Also, targeting kids in Colleges gets more press coverage than just targeting "Joe Smith" the individual. More press coverage means that perhaps more people will be scared to download songs illegally.

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There's an incredible irony at work here, I think. People download songs illegally because they enjoy those songs, and appreciate what the artists have done. Yet they feel no remorse whatsoever about harming the exact same artists whose work they appreciate.

I don't get it.

Cowpie Zombie said:

There's an incredible irony at work here, I think. People download songs illegally because they enjoy those songs, and appreciate what the artists have done. Yet they feel no remorse whatsoever about harming the exact same artists whose work they appreciate.

I don't get it.

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It's really not that simple. I'm not going to get into a huge discussion on this because it's a topic that's rife with misinformation. If you are truely interested in the topic, all I would say is to do some in-depth reading on your own. It's not a black and white issue as many want to make it out to be.

Chainsaw Mage said:

Actually, no, it isn't. The story appeared on MSN yesterday.

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That story, yes... but news sources have been doing stories about college students being charged for at least three months.

GlassJaw said:

It's really not that simple. I'm not going to get into a huge discussion on this because it's a topic that's rife with misinformation. If you are truely interested in the topic, all I would say is to do some in-depth reading on your own. It's not a black and white issue as many want to make it out to be.

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Perhaps the *ethics* involved aren't black and white, but the *law* certainly is.

I remember the old days before the internet.
I knew many students who had cheap dual cassette recorders. They would use these to copy their friend's music.

Of course, being students, they really couldn't afford to buy all the albums they wanted so lost sales are really an overblown figure. (I'm commenting on what I've actually seen here).

The result was that the music was being played more and being heard by more people. Therefore, some people were going out to buy a legal copy of the album after hearing a copied version.

Now here's where it gets interesting: 20 years later, now that these students are established career people, none of them have time to mess around with copy techniques and they all buy their CDs, DVDs and video games legally. They have been doing so for 20 years.

Therefore, the recording industry has seen two benefits from what I've personally observed:
1. Short term benefit - more exposure and more sales. Remember, the copies were being done by those who could barely afford the price of a blank cassette tape therefore there was little/no lost sale. The exposure did result in legal sales.
2. Long term benefit - Life long fans who, because of established careers, buy legally because they can afford it, they attend concerts and buy t-shirts.

I wonder what would have happened to the industry if these students were prevented from hearing this music in the first place or were severely punished for doing so.

Now, I don't condone this practice but I understand why it takes place. Certainly someone who copies CDs by the dozen and sells them should be tossed in jail - but the average student? Breaking the law is breaking the law but humanity is not that simple. Its not about ripping off an artist while appreciating his music. Its about wanting to hear a God-given talent without the money to pay for it. Talent should be shared, not hoarded.

I know a lot of people will pipe in saying that the people they know who steal music can afford it but I can only comment on what I've seen.

As a side note, the only time in my own life that I ever seriously considered making pirated copies of DVDs for my own use was when Sony recently started using a copy protection that would not play on my 5 year old DVD player thereby forcing me to buy a new player if I wanted to watch those movies. I didn't bother to become a pirate but I wonder how many people would have done so out to spite.

I'm not directing this at anyone in particular, but I'm incredibly sick of hearing about all these poor college students who are so poor they can't afford to buy music and must download it illegally instead.

The next time someone whines about "poor" university students, show them this picture:

http://www.crosslinks.org/kenyatrip/images/kenya09 - slum.jpg