[BC] Arrested for just telling people where to find copywrited material.

[Sid Schweiger]

>>They *do* have a viable product to sell. The fact that it is being 
illegally downloaded so much should tell you something. There seems 
to be a fantasy among subscribers to this list that the record 
companies don't make products that people want to buy just because 
the product doesn't much appeal to the 50+ crowd that hangs out here. 
If the record companies did not have compelling products, they 
wouldn't be stolen so much! But no matter how compelling your 
product, you can't compete with "free."<<

Yes, and that's exactly the point.  "Free" has its own allure, and
tends to lower the bar on what people will accept...or steal.  There are
a few things at work here, and I think the primary reason that this
stuff gets stolen is that young people aren't conversant with even the
most basic facts about copyright law.  I work with enough young people
to know that most do not understand that downloading without payment is
theft.  Their attitude appears to be, "if it's on the web, it's free and
it's mine."  The same young people who understand perfectly that walking
into a record store and taking product out without paying IS theft,
don't make the same connection when it comes to downloads.  The message
that it's somehow OK is, of course, reinforced repeatedly by their
peers.  Go onto any message board, on any subject, which is primarily
populated by young people, and you have all the evidence you need. 
Google the word "torrent," and you'll get a glimpse of how widespread
the problem is.  The RIAA apparently chooses to bury their collective
heads in the sand, and plod along trying to enforce the same business
model they've been using all along, not realizing that the Internet has
trumped their business model and replaced it with a new one, and it's
already out of control and too late.  Lawsuits won't stop it.  In fact,
I seriously doubt anything will stop it.



Sid Schweiger
IT Manager, Entercom New England
WAAF - WEEI AM/FM - WKAF
WMKK - WRKO - WVEI AM/FM
20 Guest St / 3d Floor
Boston MA  02135-2040
Phone: 617-779-5369
Fax: 617-779-5379
E-Mail: sid at wrko.com