quote:Would it be wrong, in your worldview, for someone to get an advance copy of the LotR:RotK digital recording and email it to every single person in teh world in a format that could be easily viewed from any computer (or burned and viewed on any dvd player)?
That would depend on how they got it. If they stole it, yes, it would be wrong - that would be stealing. If they were given it only after agreeing not to share it, it would also be wrong (even to show to one friend without making a copy) - that's lying. If they were given it freely with no strings attached, then it would be okay.
Posts: 8120 | Registered: Jul 2000
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If they gained access to a copy of the recording and made a copy, then left the orginal, in your definition that's not stealing, and they can freely distribute it as much as they want.
And further, it seems that your definition of stealing only goes to the first step of separation. If person A steals something and copies it for person B, person B is then legally in the clear to copy it for persons C thru Z ad infinitum - at least so far as I've followed your argument.
Is sharing always wrong if the first copy made was doneso illegally?
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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quote:If they gained access to a copy of the recording and made a copy, then left the orginal, in your definition that's not stealing, and they can freely distribute it as much as they want.
No, it IS stealing, just as taking someone else's car for a spin and then putting it back is stealing. A person may not 'own' an idea, but they certainly can own the physical disk containing that idea, and doing anything whatsoever with that piece of property against the wishes of the owner is stealing.
quote:Is sharing always wrong if the first copy made was doneso illegally?
That's a good question, at least if I can rephrase it as "Is it wrong to share something that was wrongfully shared with you?" I'm not sure. It's the old gossip example - a friend tells a friend a secret on the condition that he tell noone, but then that person tells you the secret anyway. It is wrong for you to then continue to pass on the secret? Does that other person's promise now apply to you? It's tricky.
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And so, I went over to Orson Scott Card's house and rifled through his trash until I found a pretty complete copy of his next novel. So then, I went over to Kinko's and had the whole thing scanned to disc and I figured, what the heck, I'll put it up on my website and share my find with everyone. Then everyone can know how great of a writer OSC is.
Sure, I mean, I'm really only putting up one copy, it's all those folks that download it that are really pirating. But since they really didn't steal anything concrete, I guess they weren't stealing either. But man, whatta a great read it was! We all REALLY enjoyed it man, wow.
Of course, the Mr. Card gets a call from his publisher saying there's no need to publish the book he's been working on for a few months because so many folks already have it. But that's okay, right, he's got plenty of money to tide him over until the next book.
Grow up folks, it is all interconnected. Whether you like the recording industry or not, whether you like the book publishers or not, they are the ones who go out there and find these artists to entertain you. It costs a lot of money to pay the bands, the producers, the CD artists, the CD manufacturers, the distributors, the local retailers and even the snotty girl with the bad nose ring that sells you your shiny new CD.
And when you download a pirated song, you rip each one of those people off. Just because your mommie or daddie don't give you a big enough allowance, or McJob doesn't pay well enough, doesn't make it alright to steal entertainment. If you're starving, stealing food can be overlooked. If you're bored, stealing entertainment is a crime.
Go do something with yourself and realize that the free lunch you eat today, was earned by someone else.
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
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I'd like a show of hands -- who has anything recorded off the tv on videocassette that is more than, say, a month old?
Now, why or why not is that wrong?
I see a lot of people condemning music downloaders quite vehemently, yet I think many are oblivious to their own copyright violations. Copyright violation is a many-degree'd thing, and asserting that downloading music is morally identical to stealing an unpublished novel then publishing it in your own name is silly.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
Another example you could use, fugu, is how many people have a recipe that someone copied for them from a cookbook. That is just as much copyright infringement isn't it?
Posts: 1336 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Recording from television to videotape. Please check the copyright disclaimer at the end of all shows, sporting events, etc. It only claims protection from rebroadcast. By putting it on cable or broadcast, they only reserve their rights to prevent unlicensed rebroadcast. Watching again at home is perfectly legal and encouraged. Why the difference? For most TV presentations, advertising or subscriber fees cover the cost of broadcast rights to the public, so the product has been paid for, as well as the right for the public to make a copy. That's why movies always go to video/DVD before you get to see them on HBO or Showtime.
On the note of recipes: If I copy down a recipe from a cookbook that I own, that's fine and it is fair usage. What if I copy down one from a cookbook and drop the copy in the mail to my mom? It gets a bit trickier, but many times the recipes printed in books are not copyrighted works individually. That's because there are very few original recipes that make it into print. To claim copyright on a recipe, the chef would have to prove beyond a doubt that this was an entirely new recipe with completely novel ingredients AND preparation methods. Since almost every recipe is a variation on a time-tested theme or uses long standing preparation methods, they don't lend themselves to copyright. What is copyrighted in a cookbook is the actual layout and presentation of the book, along with commentary by the writer(s). If you photocopy the page and mail it out, now you've broken copyright law. And most copy shops won't allow you to copy directly from a book for just that reason.
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Sopwith -- you sadly misunderstand copyright. They mention that because they can get the FBI involved for that sort of thing. There are many other types of copyright infringement which are purely civil, or fall under fair use. Remember -- even fair use uses are copyright infringement, they are just legally permissible copyright infringement.
Also, copyright is not something you have to state that you own. You have copyright (provided you can prove it) by default, and must explicitly license it to someone for it to be transferred. Implicit licenses are not valid.
This outline of copyright makes it clear: http://uscode.house.gov/uscode-cgi/fastweb.exe?getdoc+uscview+t17t20+5+13++ that those rights mentioned at the end of video broadcasts are not what rights the broadcasters are limited to, but rather what they are entitled to via statute, while most copyright violations are the subject of common law on fair use and such, and as such must be decided in the court.
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