Woz - 8:01 am on Nov 27, 2002 (gmt 0)

I am afraid I find this thread rather sad to say the least.

On the one hand we often have threads with a title like "Someone stole my site" and then advice from all and sundry about Cease and Desist letters, complaining to the ISP, and so on, along with anecdotes from people how they have been successful in dealing with these thieves.

And then, on the other hand, we have thread like this one where, despite advice to the contary, some people still think that copying or sharing music to which they hold no rights is OK because "that is the way things are going".

Make no mistake, Copying a Website, Copying a CD, Downloading Music, Sharing MP3s, and so on, to which you have no rights to do so, are ALL breaches of Copyright and are therefor Illegal. That is a fact and is undeniable! You may not agree with the law but that is the way it is. Period.

The issue of whether the Publishing Companies and ripping of the Artists is another matter altogether and, quite frankly, only concerns the affected Recording Artists. If anyone here thinks they are putting one over the Publishers by stealing music rather than buying it, they are not, they are simply stealing from the artists.

Many people here work in the affiliate marketing area and well aware of the problem of Parasiteware, Scumware, Theifware, whatever you want to call it, where webmasters work hard to build a site that will generate them an income only to have that income snatched away at the last minute by these programs that redirect sale to comapnies and people who did not build the applicable site.

If you copy/share music, than you are doing the same thing, you are stealing music from the artists and thereby denying them fair income and compensation for their efforts.

And if you still persist on doing it, then SHAME ON YOU!

To clarify a few points:-

-- viewing a webpage is like listening to music, not illegal. Copying either is illegal.
-- downloading shared music is not like radio. On Radio, copyright and performance royalties are paid to the composers and artists, usually from advertising income.

I have no doubts that the way music is marketed and sold has to, and will, change. However, until that day comes the laws are in place and we should behold those laws.

Make up your minds folks. If you think sharing music is OK, then please let us all know your URLs so we can all copy your websites. Or, to put it another way, next time you are thinking of download/copying/sharing/whatever, just think to your self "How would I feel if someone stole my website?"

Case Closed.

Onya
Woz

PS., How do I know this? I am a Composer/Recording Artist who earns part of his living from Royalties. I am also a web publisher who earns part of his living from the income derived therefrom. Subsequently, I am very, very, very aware of copyright laws.