It's Written In The Book

Law... let's talk abou the law. Yeah, you're arrested for.... stealing an... eraser!

No, the real thing that we're talked about (yesterday really) was the law about piracy and downloading. I promised a whole post about this so here it is. Technically, downloading is illegal. We do it because everybody does it. If we download songs and not pay for it, we're not buying the rights from the company to be able to use their work, and buying the rights from them is how they make money. Without it, they wouldn't be able to earn a living. Just imagine yourself, making a piece of artwork that took time and effort, and somebody made copies of it to sell for free. The people who view this piece of art wouldn't credit you for everything you've worked for and all your time had just been wasted.

The same thing happens for this. Programs such as Limewire makes you able to share mp3's with people. This is still illegal because people still won't pay for the mp3's they get by sharing with you even if you paid for it.

The law doesn't clearly state this, and therefore people don't realize it. Now, they're trying to change it. If the rule states that we're not allowed to copy DVD's, then downloading mp3's should be the same.