10 Ways You May Be Breaking the Law With Your Computer
Debra Shinder wrote an article on the 10 Ways You May Be Breaking the Law with your Computer, which is a thoughtful recap of industry events that could have long term impact for computer users. Thoughtful because she doesn’t seem to pass judgment on each item she reports. On the other hand, its rare that you read responses other than from people who state their belief that any sort of federal penalty for intellectual property theft is wrong; that somehow its different than shoplifting.
I can accept that people have very little sympathy for very large corporations that derive exceptional, or obscene profits from intellectual property of all kinds (big pharmaceutical, large music labels), but that doesn’t jive with the photographer, musician or small content business that as a result of a lack of paying customers (but plenty of non-paying pirates) have to reduce or fire their creatives staff.
