In response …

Do I have any illegal MP3’s in my iTunes library right now? Not that I know of and if I do Lauren put them there. All of the CD’s in my iTunes library were ripped from CD’s I purchased. I bought my last CD a few days ago (Everclear – Sparkle & Fade).

I haven’t downloaded an MP3 from the Internet (that I didn’t buy) in, literally, years. The “collection” from California was nuked when I bought my Mac over a year ago. Since then I’ve realized two things: 1.) I don’t need 40GB of MP3’s and 2.) I should support the artists I like listening to.

Another funny thing that Paul is forgetting is that he has coded for money. If Paul found out that the company who paid us to code that software was breeching our original agreement he’d be pissed (as he’s expressed this before).

This leads me into a good discussion on another topic: People change. I’m not the same person who spent hours recompiling my kernel to get my CD burner working so I could burn MP3’s. I know use OSX and Windows 2000 (for that very reason). I’m no longer the person who feels it’s OK to download music I don’t own. My views are different now that I’m 23 and not 19. I can name quite a few changes I’ve made over the years and I’m sure Paul can too. I’ve lost a few friends over the last year or so because of how I’ve changed. This includes fraternity brothers and close friends.

Paul, along with quite a few others, seem to forget that they have changed too. Moonkhan no longer drinks with Miester. Moonkhan no longer enjoys coding with Miester. Moonkhan never calls Miester. But, I’m not pissed, people change. Moonkhan’s alter ego, Paul, now has a fiance. Paul also has a job where he works very hard to keep an entire school district up and running. Paul, soon, will have a house and little evil Moonkhans in his own image running around. Paul has a princess who wants ponies to worry about.

The point of all of this is that the actions of me from more than a year ago can’t necissarily be held against the me of today. People change, we all need to understand that.

Paul amazes me sometimes. It amazes me that someone can actually call downloading music “copying” and not any form of stealing (he refers to it as “copyright infringement).

Well, Paul, you’re right. Technically, what you’re doing is “copyright infringement”, but that doesn’t make it “legal”. According to dictionary.com copyright is “The legal right granted to an author, composer, playwright, publisher, or distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work.” Infringement is “A violation, as of a law, regulation, or agreement; a breach.” By definition steal means “To take (the property of another) without right or permission.” And, to round it out, a thief is defined as “One who steals, especially by stealth.”

Do you have permission to have a copy of that file? No? Thought so – you’re technically a thief. Just because what you stole was not tangible doesn’t mean you are not “liable” (Legally obligated; responsible).

His defense that they aren’t “thiefs” but rather “pirates” is a total joke. Again dictionary.com; a pirate is defined as “One who robs.” A pirate is just another name for a thief. And the person who sells unauthorized copies of movies are thiefs too.

Do I think that fair use is severly limited by the DMCA? Yes, of course! But I also think that virtuosos like David Allan Coe have a right to charge for their intellectual property. The reality is that downloading music that you don’t have a right to own is stealing. Pirating and stealing are the same thing with different names. Again, if Paul would take a few seconds to think about it from his perspective (charging for code) he’d come to the same conclusion.

I think the dilema has moral considerations too. No one in this country thinks about anyone else anymore. It’s all about money, oil, free songs, and ourselves. What I find so amazingly ironic is that we hate the record labels because they steal from the muscians. If you “copy” music that you don’t own so are you!

I just got back from Washington, DC. Other than a long ass drive both ways, it was a good trip. We made stops at Arlington National Cemetary, the Holocost Museum, and the Smithsonian’s American History Museum. We missed out on the new spy museum, but I can wait.

We also spent a lot of time eating and drinking. The last night we were in town we saw Wanda Sykes. To put it lightly, she was hysterical. I had a good time catching up with Lauren’s sister and her boyfriend. At any rate, I should probably get to fixing the servers at work now.