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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 4967559" data-attributes="member: 29398">Lots of little rambling thoughts and questions here...First off, all the discussion has been about *US* laws; are all those being prosecuted in or from the US?  And if not, how do the laws of their home countries affect any of this?In the case of speeding, the obvious answer is to change the law to reflect reality.Or, again, change both the law and perception.  My admittedly rather impractical suggestion goes something like this:1. As the owner of a given piece of IP, at the time I release it for public consumption I get to declare whether or not it may be digitized, including by me.  If I declare that it may be, or if I digitize it myself, then it's open season and I'm accepting that people are going to share it whether I want them to or not; though I still retain the right to sell the IP in both digital and non-digital forms.  But if I declare that it may not be digitized, and agree that I will never digitize it myself, then it may not be digitized or stored on *any* digital medium.  Period.  And once made, this decision is irrevocable.2. The laws have to be changed to reflect the above, including standard pre-set punishments for violation (I suggest automatic forfeit of any equipment found to contain IP declared as non-digital, for a start) and means to search for such.Yes, utterly impractical, I know...but I stand behind the general idea, that the IP owner has the right to determine what "level" of sharing s/he is willing to accept (and that determination being made in part by what means the IP is produced and-or sold), and the laws reflect and back up that determination.So, if I release some music on non-digital formats only (vinyl and tape, perhaps) and declare it non-digital, I should be able to expect the law to punish anyone found to have that music stored in any digital format. (yes, this means the idea of making mp3's for personal use goes out the window; but that's the root of the whole problem: once something gets digitized once, it's open season - there is no such thing as internet security...)  Ditto for books being turned to pdf's.  But note this limits me as the IP owner as well; by my own declaration I cannot store the music on a CD...Same goes for a painting - if it's declared non-digital, it cannot be displayed online in any form.This falls apart, of course, when the production medium *is* digital, e.g. computer art.  I've no idea how to handle that one in any kind of black-and-white method.Lanefan</blockquote>

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