Tuesday, October 24, 2006

High Crimes

In the news… “Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said he wants to make the recording of movies in theaters a crime, and hold building owners liable for illegal distribution on their property.”

He’s right; that’s a crime! Though I don’t like the part about the building owners being responsible; that turns the owners into policemen. On an entirely different, though somewhat similar subject; what about copyright law? It seems to be in the news all of the time. It was a hot topic when music was being downloaded and copied and now it’s even hotter as video copying becomes practical due to the availability of broadband in more areas of the country.

I have a very simple view of copyrights; if you don’t want me to have a digital copy of the music or the video…don’t sell it to me. Because once I buy it…it’s mine. And I can share it with anyone I want. Lease it to me or rent it; that way the owners retain full protection of the law and I cannot steal it from you; that would be illegal. In my opinion, the corporations that sell music and video have an obligation to protect their own property. Make those videos and musical CD’s theft proof if that’s their intention. The biggest problem is the fact that those same corporations really don’t want to spend the money to protect their property.

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