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To: steve-b
However, suppose that a shopkeeper subjects his customers to searches resembling the worst airport-gestapo horror stories we've been hearing, sends spies to search homes for possible stolen goods.

I guess first I should try to fathom how you extrapolated this fantasy scenario out of enforcing copyright law, which was written into the original Constitution.

The latter is the situation the recording industry has created for itself by attacking, not only real bootlegging, but legitimate fair-use copying for purposes of backup, time shifting, format conversion, etc, and by insisting upon draconian penalties for doing either against its wishes.

First of all, the situations you mentioned are already protected as fair use either by statute or by court ruling (in the case of time shifting). Secondly, I think far from being draconian, the recording industry has been far too patient with the massive looting of their product by PTP downloading. They're well within their rights to insist that the law be enforced and their legitimate copyright interests be protected.

60 posted on 08/21/2002 9:08:22 PM PDT by tdadams
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To: tdadams
I guess first I should try to fathom how you extrapolated this fantasy scenario

Unfortunately, attempts by the industry to prevent and criminalize various actions that fall squarely within the realm of fair use (e.g. ripping of CDs to hard disk in order to convert them to MP3s) are reality, not fantasy. The same is true of industry attempts to gain a legal license to hack computers and a legal prohibition on devices that do not incorporate rights-restriction technologies.

Sorry, but these actions have reduced my respect for even their legitimate bootlegging concerns to the same level as my respect for the national sovereignty of Afghanistan (as of October 2001).

79 posted on 08/22/2002 6:43:57 AM PDT by steve-b
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