Comments on: RIAA tries to excuse school attacks http://www.p2pnet.net/story/11699 p2pnet.net - reader powered Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:47:36 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Reader's Write http://www.p2pnet.net/story/11699/comment-page-1#comment-135620 Reader's Write Tue, 20 Mar 2007 11:55:59 +0000 #comment-135620 "Furthermore, a Business Software Alliance study conducted last year found that 86 percent of managers say that the file-sharing attitudes and behaviors of applicants affect on their hiring decisions." Ha, Ha. I don't believe anything the BSA touts as fact, because frankly, it's a load of BS. 1. It's not the school's responsibility to enforce someone else's copyrights. That's a waste of student tuition. Not like the RIAA cares. 2. Aren't we innocent until proven guilty in this country? 2a. Maybe school admins aren't that stupid and have read about how shaky the whole "I found X IP address was sharing. I need you to tell me who they are so I can sue them" platform is. I gotta give the spin doctors credit. If I didn't know any better, I'd almost believe them. “Furthermore, a Business Software Alliance study conducted last year found that 86 percent of managers say that the file-sharing attitudes and behaviors of applicants affect on their hiring decisions.”

Ha, Ha. I don’t believe anything the BSA touts as fact, because frankly, it’s a load of BS.

1. It’s not the school’s responsibility to enforce someone else’s copyrights. That’s a waste of student tuition. Not like the RIAA cares.
2. Aren’t we innocent until proven guilty in this country?
2a. Maybe school admins aren’t that stupid and have read about how shaky the whole “I found X IP address was sharing. I need you to tell me who they are so I can sue them” platform is.

I gotta give the spin doctors credit. If I didn’t know any better, I’d almost believe them.

]]> By: Reader's Write http://www.p2pnet.net/story/11699/comment-page-1#comment-135603 Reader's Write Tue, 20 Mar 2007 03:11:43 +0000 #comment-135603 "If music is stolen with such impunity, what makes term papers any different? Yet we know university administrators very aggressively pursue plagiarism. Why would universities - so prolific in the creation of intellectual capital themselves - not apply the same high standards to intellectual property of all kinds?" This is an illogical comparison. For starters, plagiarism and copyright infringement are NOT the same thing. Plagiarism is when you take something and claim it as your own. Copyright infringement is when you use a copyrighted work without permission from the copyright holder. Plagiarism of copyrighted works IS also copyright infringement, but plagiarism of public domain works is not. I could claim that I wrote Shakespeare's plays by copying them verbatim and placing my name on them. I have plagiarized Shakespeare, but I have not "stolen" his work in the sense of copyright infringement, as all Shakespearian plays in their original form are in the public domain. Likewise, you can infringe on a copyrighted work and not be plagiarizing it. All copyrighted files shared are infringing but not plagiarizing so long as the copyright holder is credited. If I simply shared a copyrighted MP3 without permission, I'd be only committing infringement. If I edited the ID3 tags of that file so that it said that I was the artist, then I would also be plagiarizing. In fact, if a paper is to be published, you are legally required to get the permission from all of your copyrighted sources before publication, even if you sited them properly. Just using proper citation doesn't give you a free pass to publish your findings if those sources are copyrighted. Ask any researcher. “If music is stolen with such impunity, what makes term papers any different? Yet we know university administrators very aggressively pursue plagiarism. Why would universities – so prolific in the creation of intellectual capital themselves – not apply the same high standards to intellectual property of all kinds?”
This is an illogical comparison. For starters, plagiarism and copyright infringement are NOT the same thing. Plagiarism is when you take something and claim it as your own. Copyright infringement is when you use a copyrighted work without permission from the copyright holder. Plagiarism of copyrighted works IS also copyright infringement, but plagiarism of public domain works is not. I could claim that I wrote Shakespeare’s plays by copying them verbatim and placing my name on them. I have plagiarized Shakespeare, but I have not “stolen” his work in the sense of copyright infringement, as all Shakespearian plays in their original form are in the public domain. Likewise, you can infringe on a copyrighted work and not be plagiarizing it. All copyrighted files shared are infringing but not plagiarizing so long as the copyright holder is credited. If I simply shared a copyrighted MP3 without permission, I’d be only committing infringement. If I edited the ID3 tags of that file so that it said that I was the artist, then I would also be plagiarizing. In fact, if a paper is to be published, you are legally required to get the permission from all of your copyrighted sources before publication, even if you sited them properly. Just using proper citation doesn’t give you a free pass to publish your findings if those sources are copyrighted. Ask any researcher.

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