The US government is simply too big, and too willing to create laws when there’s no real need. Most people in government now believe that the solution to any problem is to create another law, another bureaucracy, or both. Many new laws are created to satisfy corporate interests, and nothing more.

Soon, everyone will be a criminal, because it will be effectively impossible to live without breaking laws.

Then, the government can pick and choose who it arrests at will.

Land of the free… what a joke.

I might as well argue that the record companies are inducing me to download copied music by paying radio stations to make sure that I hear the same tunes every five minutes.

It reminds me of a case here (a long time ago) in England where the Automobile Association used to warn motorists of police speed traps ahead. That was ruled to be assisting a crime. So the AA men started saluting every car that passed, _unless_ there was a speed trap. That way, they weren’t ‘doing’ anything in assisting the crime.

Maybe if p2p software produced, on searching for a particular file, a list of addresses where you _can’t_ download the file you want, but somehow implied fairly simply how to form the addresses to get the files, then that wouldn’t be inducement?

Real creativity is not motivated by rewards – creating is a reward in itself.

Technology is governed creativity, just like art or music, they evolve hand in hand, and are beneficial to each other. They can pass as many stupid laws as they want, they won’t stop this evolution. And the reach fat people who pass those laws will disappear, just like dinosaurs…

I don’t think the other Alex is going to hang around this thread. He never really answered any of my questions, and hasn’t been heard from in this thread for two weeks.

Every operating system has a built in anonymous �tracker� that will keep a log of works accessed and report weekly to a central server designed to count uses of all works.

No one in their right mind would use that. The reasons are extensive and will not fit in the margin of this webpage. 🙂

if bits are matter, and cars are matter.. then why would it be legal to build a replica of a car but not to replicate bits?

and also, intellectual property is an idea… you said bits are matter, and therefore intellectual property.

Since intellectual property governs the idea and not the matter, than i would have to say that, since bits are matter, they are my property, and i have a right to replicate them

The current perverted concept of “intellectual property” violates and disregards an individual’s right to personal property.
There are two economic structures which come to mind immediately which are typpified by a lack of personal property.
one is SERFDOM.
another is COMMUNISM.

both are considered unconstitutional, and yet by perverting the definition of copyright these large corporations and their owners are becomming the new “noble class” of the 21’st centry.

In this model:

1. Everyone pays a fee with their internet.
2. Every operating system has a built in anonymous “tracker” that will keep a log of works accessed and report weekly to a central server designed to count uses of all works.
(no information on identity at all would be needed, so no privacy concerns)
3. Said system can distribute the funds.. and the level of use can be assessed to determine if the fees charged represent the value gained.

This system could work, and even as a novice programmer I could design the basic technical framework for such a system.

I did some calculations on the time required to catch all the gnutella users if a concerted effort were made.

with arrests at the rate of 10,000 people a month, and a conservative estimate of 60 million sharers, it would take roughly 500 years.

If people become cowards, and 9/10 of all filesharers abandon the technology, that still leaves 6 million.

it would take 50 years to arrest 6 million people.

I certainly wish our government luck.. of course arresting 10,000 people a month for exchanging their cultural heritage is just asking for armed revolt.. but who knows.. maybe people will tolerate it for 50-500 years.

Obviously this is no longer the case though, because despite majority opposition to taking legal action against swappers in even conservative polls, our congress continues to try to manipulate the population against its wishes to conform to the long deceased business models of hollywood and foreign record companies.