Morpheus and Grokster ruled legal

[Tsyr]

marks each file you distribute from your Shared folder with your name and address in case there's any need to know where it came from.

I don't use any of those programs, but if you think my real name or my adress exist anywhere on my computer, you're nuts. I never would have anything along the lines of: Real Name, Address, Phone Number, E-mail Address, passwords, credit card numbers, etc, on my computer. If a program asks me for them, I lie. The software doesn't need to know the stuff to do it's job, so it's not getting the stuff in the first place.

Having my real name on this site is actualy rather unique for me.

And I suspect I'm far from alone in my views...

 

[smetzger]

My opinion:

I think the main problem with these programs is not that they allow file downloads. It's that they allow file distribution without forcing the originator of the illegal copies to take responsibility for his/her actions.

I think file-sharing software should have built-in features that a) would alert you when items in your Shared folder are being downloaded from you, and b) would require you "digitally sign" a statement for each item you place in your Shared folder stating that you are the copyright holder or are otherwise authorized to distribute the file in question (of course, you could lie about it, but it could then be used against the distributor in court), and c) marks each file you distribute from your Shared folder with your name and address in case there's any need to know where it came from.

In my opinion, the chief problem lies not with those doing the downloading (yes, they're making illegal copies, and it's wrong, but it's also understandable -- people like "free" stuff) -- but if we could better deal with the sources of these files (the masses of users who store files to which they don't own the copyright in their Shared folder), I think the problems would begin to diminish a bit.

The music industry is kicking themselves for not getting involved in the defining the MP3 format. They completly spurned the format and thus this type of information is not mandatory in the file format. Their loss for being shortsighted.