If you pirate music, you're downloading communism!

[Paul Mather]

On 25 Mar 2009, at 7:26 AM, Albert Bouchard wrote:

> So I guess you think it's OK to steal music? What about other stuff?


Even if you accept that stealing music is wrong, and that these  
criminals are doing a terrible thing, do you think that a $150,000  
fine is an appropriate punishment commensurate with the crime?  Would  
you be fined $150,000 if you obtained via the five-fingered discount a  
CD containing the same music from a regular bricks and mortar store?   
(Or even that the $750 lower limit mentioned in the article is  
appropriate.)

What gets me nervous is that the whole thing stinks of legal policy  
being dictated by lobbyists.  Then, of course, there's the law of  
unintended consequences aspect that worries me.  Look at what happened  
when the penalties for possession of soft drugs like marijuana were  
ramped up for political reasons: the prison population skyrocketed and  
is buckling under the strain with no appreciable effect on consumption  
or attitudes.  Sure, these people broke the law, but does the  
punishment fit the crime?

I just wonder if the "slap 'em with heavy fines" route is a very  
creative (or likely to succeed) solution to the problem.  Maybe next  
they'll advocate the death penalty as a deterrent for illegal  
downloading.  (They already posited it for hardware...)

Cheers,

Paul.

e-mail: paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu

"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production
  deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid."
         --- Frank Vincent Zappa