REPLY: I guess I just cannot get too upset over this one Norsefire. Let me ask you, you changed your AVATAR. Who is that ? Is it Alexander the great ? And what does that Latin phrase mean ? I am just curious, and am not trying to offend you. ...traveler
Detection and prosecution, I must agree here. Yes, you can prove it. If person A pirates a song, then they have received the song without paying for it. Thus, the company that is selling the song has lost money. You can say, "but they wouldn't have bought it anyway", but then okay: so don't get the song. You can't get the song and not pay for it. That is theft.
It's not lost if they never had it. If I tape it from a friend, or record it from the radio, that's not stealing. Stealing is only when there is something physical.
No, it's stealing; you're getting the value (song) without paying for it. If you don't want to pay, you can't have the song; and if you want the song, you need to pay. Plain and simple. Having the song without paying for it is stealing; don't want to pay for it? Then don't pay for it, but you can't have it unless you pay for it. That's not fair on the people that do pay. And it is stealing.
If I listen to it on the radio, is that stealing? No. If I happen to record the sound already coming into the speaker, that isn't stealing either. What's not fair is charging people for vibrating air.
Radios are authorized to play the music. It is intellectual property; it's the music itself, that you are enjoying and must thus pay for. It is theft, plain and simple; quit trying to make excuses. Or I could say, it's not fair charging people to watch a movie, or buy a hamburger, or ride in a taxi; because they're just moving pictures, meat, and a bunch of moving metal.
So if I record a song with my tape recorder that is being played over the radio am I a pirate then? If the radio company has already paid the rights to transmit the song where is it that I am a pirate, especially if I do not sell the recorded song but only listen to it when I want. There's also who owns the artist at the time, many times artists goods are sold to others like the Beatles, who's recordings have been bought and sold a few times already. Just how much money are they going to make from a song anyway? Another thing is when you video tape a TV program,or a musical event how are they going to ever make you pay for all of those recordings?
That is technically piracy too. It's stealing; unless you are authorized to record it, for instance if you have TiVo "How much will they make from one song"? Not much; but, does that mean it is okay to steal as long as only a few people do it? And it's not a few people. It's millions and millions of people.
No, you're stealing from them. So some people pay, and you get to get it for free; that's theft. You are a thief.
Some artists allow people to download it for free; in that case, if the artist and the recording company give it out for free, that's fine. But if they aren't and it's being done illegally, then it is theft.
The intellectual property rights are handled by the law in that case. The point is, piracy is theft and the law is very clear on that. People work hard to produce that art, and if you are using it you need to pay. Or you don't have to buy it, but then you don't use it, otherwise that's unfair.
Probably because the companies are offering it at a price, and they are complaining about piracy. Go to the IRAA site if you want more information.
That's their problem to solve, not mine. They didn't have to make music digital in the first place. And the fact is digital music costs very little to distribute, but they keep the prices the same. This is just the free market demanding reasonable prices. I do pay for media on-line if the price is reasonable. I have paid far too much for years for CDs that only cost a dollar or less to make.
Then you're stealing. You can't just say "Since I don't like this price, I'm going to steal it.". That's theft. You are a thief. I honestly cannot believe you are defending theft; that is low of you.
It's just sharing, not theft. Me and my friends share music, and we just use the internet instead of trading tapes. Listening to music is a human right.
So purchase it. Sharing files is theft, unless you are deleting it while they use it, and then they delete it when you use it, and you purchased the first copy.