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Re: Microsoft's Friends Begin with the Lawsuits, 'Pull an SCO'

begin  oe_protect.scr 
Rex Ballard <rex.ballard@xxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>> There is quite an astounding comparison to be made here with Novell-Microsoft
>> (or even SCO, albeit more remotely).
>>
>>         Universal Music sues MySpace over music copyrights
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>> | Universal Music Group, the world's largest music company, said on
>> | Friday it filed a lawsuit against popular social networking site
>> | MySpace for infringing copyrights of thousands of its artists' works.
>> `----
>>
>> http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061117/tc_nm/media_universal_myspace_dc
> 
> The big problem here is finding out whethe myspace has a policy that
> forbids publication of copyrighted materials not owned by the author
> (they do), and proving that they do not enforce it.  Finally, MySpace
> could opt to help UMG go after members who have published copyrighted
> music.
> 
> The biggest problem with any hosting service, ranging from rackspace to
> MySpace, is that the publisher (the person who puts copyrighted content
> in the public space) is the criminal.  The challenge is that if you
> have 5 million "tweens and teens" who have been stealing software for
> years, and have been watching their parents steal software for even
> longer, should you treat them the same way you should treat drug
> dealers?  The penalty for copyright violations is 15 years.  The
> penalty for drug possession of drugs such as pot and powder cocaine is
> only 5 years.
> 

Nah, the sentence should be raised to 50 years.  Then we can all watch
as the US puts 50% of it's teenagers away for the whole of their fertile
period.

You should be a little careful with the words here, though, Rex.
Copyright violation is not stealing, it's copyright violation.  The
music industry's estimates for lost revenue from this are known to be
utter and complete fabrication.

The industry, of course, would rather the hosting service be
responsible, however, they're not, any more than the brick manufacturer
is responsibly for a house with stolen goods in it.  Or more closely,
the publican is responsible for criminals trading stolen goods in his
pub.

-- 
| Mark Kent   --   mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk  |
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
		-- Hunter S. Thompson

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