Quote:
Originally posted by sycamore
The EFF has a database where you can check your IP addy to see if a subpoena is headed your way.
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Which is great, if you have a static IP.
Quote:
Originally posted by tobiasly
So if someone gets "busted", what's to stop them from simply going out and buying a copy of the CD (or single) they downloaded? Doesn't fair use cover the right to obtain a backup copy to works you paid for?
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According to the RIAA, downloading MP3s and obtaining a backup copy are not equivalent. Their argument is simple: the person providing the MP3s did not have the rights to distribute them, and thus you are receiving "stolen" intellectual property. If you want a backup copy, you have to either make it yourself (while you still have the technological capabilities to do so) or deal directly with the point-of-purchase retailer (and good luck convincing the drones at Best Buy that your CD was defective when you got it).
We're all free to disagree with that Draconian standpoint, as well we should. But how many of us have a spare fifty grand or so lying around to fight them in court, should our numbers come up in the Subpoena Lottery?