Folks:
I have never downloaded movies via the internet. On the very few
occasions I've downloaded music from the internet (generally classical),
I was very clear about the unencumbered nature of the downloads.
Unfortunately, all this makes me supremely unqualified to determine if a
given download or download service is illegal or not. As a consequence,
when this subject comes up on this list, I cannot tell whether what's
being talked about is legal or illegal. My apologies for that.
However, for the sake of this group and this list, I would strongly
caution people against encouraging warez and pirated downloads. What I'm
talking about should be narrowly defined as encouraging people to seek
out illegal download services or downloads, and facilitating their use.
Obviously, as we've seen with Napster, any service like this can be used
for legal and illegal purposes, so services like this are not a
forbidden topic. But I'm also sure there are services out there devoted
most particularly to illegal downloads. Encouraging the patronage of
such services should not be done. And of course, if Joe L. User knows
where you can get a *free* copy of MI3 (obviously copyrighted, obviously
not allowed out by the studios for free), he should keep this news to
himself.
I'm not trying to dampen discussion, but I also don't want to get SLUG
involved in encouraging or facilitating enterprises which are of obvious
or even questionable illegality. Since I'm uniquely unqualified in this
area, I'd appreciate it if the members of the list could assist me in
policing this type of thing.
And let's not get into a discussion about how unfair or criminal record
companies and movie studios are. If that's what you think, I agree with
you, but the politics list is where that kind of discussion should take
place. And whether they are or are not criminal really doesn't justify
ripping them off in return, at least not as far as this list is concerned.
Paul
-- Paul M. Foster President Suncoast Linux Users Group (SLUG) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This list is provided as an unmoderated internet service by Networked Knowledge Systems (NKS). Views and opinions expressed in messages posted are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of NKS or any of its employees.
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