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Tuesday, August 19, 2003
I have been keeping an ear to the ground in regards to this whole RIAA file sharing sabre rattling. I find it interesting that a group that you would think would be trying to smoothe its relationship with the buying public who will ultimately buy their product is in fact alienating that said public by going after them with subpeanas for file sharing. I was just looking on the official RIAA website where it states that offenders face fines of $250,000 and up to five years in prison. If you broke into A&B sound and made off with their entire stock of CDs you would probably get a lighter sentence. What is interesting and bears watching is the fact that in Canada the "fair use" clause on the Canadian copyright law says that copying (or sharing) for personal use is legal. Maybe Canada and a few other countries with similar laws will become the haven for illicit file sharers hoping to evade persecution from the RIAA much like the draft dodgers of the '70's. We Canadians are good for something after all. Or perhaps everyone will do what I used to do: go to the public library and borrow CDs from there to copy. Can't be much less illegal, but you don't see the American Librarian Association raising a stink.
I hate when you get a cold and after the worst is over you are left for days with your nasal passages filled with something that has the consistency of hot tar that just will not move out of there no matter what direction you try to blow it.
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