But the music is already bought and paid for, it's like having your friend let you borrow his car.

Are you saying borrowing CD's from your friend is not just illegal but wrong?????

what about lending a book to someone to read?

what about answering machines? are they wrong because you can screen your calls? What about caller ID?

Is something wrong with lending video games to your friends?

Is sparing a cup of sugar for a neighbor immoral?

What about listening to your radio outside? The other listeners didnt pay for the music.

Are we not allowed to watch movies at our friend's house because we didnt pay for them?

would it be wrong to wear a t-shirt that had a funny message on it because someone else might see it and think it was funny too?

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU???????????????????????????????????????

IM SAFE!

we're not talking about what's morally "wrong" or "right"; we're talking about what's illegal and what's not. you do know it's illegal to make photocopies of books? some teachers do it to give out in class, but you're only legally allowed to photocopy a limited number. which is why my college INSISTS on every student to purchase our own books so they don't get sued by the textbook companies.

and as i stated earlier, audio and video is different from the other copywrited works. for example:
once you buy a hand crafted designer chair, it's yours. you can paint over it, resell it, take it apart and use the pieces for some other piece of furniture.

"except for sound recordings and computer programs, once a copy has been sold, the purchaser may resell or rent a copy of the work without permission from the copyright owner" - world book encyclopedia, under "copyright"

you ever wonder why those hidden camera people get away with distributing tapes of innocent people undressing, using the bathroom, etc? it's because it has no audio. technically, they're not doing anything illegal by distributing the film. an .mp3 is a piece of audio. so are movies... unless you take away the sound ;x

but they arent reselling or renting.

you cant get sued for photocopying a book for private use.

maybe the mp3 that you are downloading is public?

you mean isn't, well then that is a seperate matter, if the artist has no problem with it then it is not wrong.

If you arent distributing it to other people, it's personal use

if the artist doesn't press charges, you won't get in trouble, but it doesn't make it legal.

It does to, if the artist has no problem with it then it is legal.

It would be like if a store owner saw you stealing their product, but didn't stop you. Illegal, just that you didn't get in trouble for it.

If the offended party in this country does not press charges it is legal.

Untrue.
If you go outside and shoot somebody, but nobody stopped you - Is it legal? You got away with it, it doesn't make it legal. If it were legal, then other people wouldn't have been charged.

Books are yours once you buy them, you can do anything with them, deface them in any way you wish.


I don't see how this is related to the topic.


Those are different from what's being discussed, video games and groceries aren't copyrighted.



Are they storing the music onto their own stuff?

Whose side are you on?



Hey that has nothing to do with what i said. Shooting somebody is completely different. The offended party is dead and cannot choose to not press charges. If they could you would still get in trouble for discharging a fire arm within city limits.
Shooting somebody has different restrictions.


All of those are examples using the same idea as file sharing.

Are you saying that if you shoot and kill someone, no one can press charges? The family of the victim or the state can, correct?



Nothing's wrong with that. But the thing is, you can't have the videogame in your possession at the same time. Nor can you give the one tablespoon left of sugar to your neighbor, and use that same sugar to bake a cake. Intellectual property should be treated like material property.

That's the state.



Ok what about a game like sim city 2000? you can download it and you dont need the disc to play it. the game is essentially still in your possession.

what about the liscence for the game?

what about it?

the person who purchases the game has the licensce to use the game. if you download it, you do not have the software licensce for it. This is illegal.