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There are two reasons for giving a copy of art to another person. One is to share or trade. That has been going on since the first recordings were made, and isn't likely to stop. The other is to make money off of the work of the original artist. Publishers and royalty owners have always gone after this second group, the group *selling* art. There are two reasons for this. One, money is changing hands and not going to the copyright owner. Two, the selling and copying is being done in bulk. The numbers are high enough that it hurts profits.
Until the internet came along no one gave a shit about exchanging art. But as soon as it became technologically feasible for one person to share his copy of a piece of art with *all* his friends, and even thousands of people he does not know, the numbers added up and caused concern. But the legal issues get a bit murky here. It is easy to prove that a bootlegger is taking in money that should rightfully go to the copyright holder. But how do you prove that regarding file-sharing? No money is being exchanged! How can you prove that those receiving art *would* have purchased it had the free copy not been available? Well you can't prove it. I'm sure a percentage would, but what percent?
For example, I was given 15GB of music at a party one time. I've probably listened to less than 5% of it, and I've deleted 10-15% because it was stuff I'll never listen to. I could probably delete another 40% for the same reason, I just haven't taken the time.
Should I be forced to pay for all that music I had possession of for awhile? What if I had Kazaa or Limewire running for a few days here and there, and what if someone snagged some of it? Did my taking of this music steal any money that I would normally have spent? Did my sharing of it do the same?
Fact is, for me the answer is no. For others it might be yes. But there are a lot of legal and financial issues to be worked out here. Publishers of print, music and video had better get their shit together and figure out how to stay relevant or the masses will just bypass them. It has already started with music and independent film, and newspapers are on death watch. You can adapt or you can try to force the entire world to stop changing and progressing. Guess which one won't work?
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