wilbur, are you asking me if I fear that RCA or Sony will come knocking on my door and confiscate my hard drive in order to take me to court for downloading the Jeff Beck 'Blow by Blow' album? I can assure you that that will never ever happen. I am in no danger of being sued for copyright infringement. However, if I were running a website whose sole purpose was massive fraud, I would certainly be feeling a bit fearful. Just look at the music tab sites. They were chugging right along, making available the tablature for every pop tune ever recorded. Mind you, these were not copies of the music, per se. They were transcriptions that kids were using to learn the songs. Not something I would object to if I had written 'Yesterday'. But the lawyers were able to shut those sites down pretty effectively, at least for the time being. Once again, my objection to the tone of the posts here is solely based on the apparent denial of the notion that posting a piece of intellectual property, properly copyrighted, on a website that allows thousands or millions of people to access it for free, is theft, or that sharing a piece of intellectual property with a friend is the same thing as posting it on a torrent site and letting millions of people access it.
If we did only what were legal, we would all be British subjects to this day. There are periods of time when we rethink what should be legal and what should be illegal. I think this is such a time. If I purchase an item, I should be able to do what I want with it, including giving it to a million people. Please don't ask me to protect your livelihood, that's your responsibility - in other words, don't hand that unwanted responsibility to me, and then threaten me when I don't take care of it for you.
Bizarre. You don't have to protect my livelihood. All you need to do is make sure you don't contravene copyright law. If you buy a piece of copyrighted intellectual property and then either make your own copies and sell them (isn't it neat how that is just so clear... copies, after all!!), or provide free copies to anyone who asks, then don't feel bad when you go to jail, which is where you belong. The reason you belong there is because you didn't have the legal right to copy the property. That right belongs solely to the owner. Or are you against the idea of private ownership completely? You would have to be, since that is where your argument leads. The livelihood of intellectual property creators, content creators, doesn't need your protection. It is protected by the rule of law and has been for a long time. This is as it should be.
The website may not be illegal, however, the distribution and downloading of pirated software and intellectual property is. For those who individuals who choose to disregard copyright laws and download illegal software, consider other than the legal and moral implications but the Virus which may be associated with this generous gift... Let me see, trading website..... tracking cookies..... passwords.... Brokerage accounts..... What is the website offering "free" software actual intent.... I currently receive spam E-mail for penny stocks and replica watches, which started after accidently opening a banner ad on this website.... the last header included the term "newbie" for the watch spam... Beware when clicking the link... it may just be another Pandora... Safe trading to you all....
The right to copy may belong to the owner, but he can't enforce it, and hasn't been able to enforce it for years. You can pay for your own software, but you'll only disadvantage yourself if you do. Others will have lower costs.
Wow... if you look in the dictionary under the word 'assertion', you might see this statement. As I said before... bizarre. It seems you believe this to be true just because you are saying it. Certainly there is no basis in fact for this statement whatosoever. It seems absurd to even have to say it, but intellectual property rights are firmly in place and enforced on a daily and global basis. You might just as logically observe people speeding and then try to say 'It is illegal to exceed the speed limit but they can't enforce it and they haven't been able to enforce it in years'.
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/eAr7zKxjCDY"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/eAr7zKxjCDY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>