Cheers!

In short, after reading your waffle on how file sharing is “stealing” (what, do you think we’re retarded or something, that we’ll fall for that one??), I’ll just say that I suspect you are nothing but an RIAA shill sent here, because the of the great influence p2pnet.net is having in exposing the despicable & illegal practices of your corrupt organisation (well done, Jon!).

Why not identify yourself to the world and prove me wrong?

So we’re all “thieves” and freeloaders, huh? Funny how all the DRM infested Napsters are dying and the DRM free music sites such as allofmp3 and Amazon are flourishing then…

Man, you’re the best troll I’ve ever seen. I’m impressed!

All about Sam: http://www.p2pnet.net/story/14377

Yes, I’m in the arts and I’m allied with both art forms but no, I don’t belong to either organization. About 35 or 40% of my yearly income is royalty based now upon material I’ve created over the years and the copyrights I hold. Freelance entertainment employment is spotty at best, and royalties/residuals are essential for survival. This is why copyright exists. It’s a blessing there is no real way to pirate my work or my daughter likely could not afford college. Music is not so lucky. The devastation of the lives of good guys I know and their families, working musicians mostly, is sickening and shameful. Their incomes are down significantly since Napster and they are fighting to keep their homes. The folks who say there is no connection between illegal downloading and decreasing unit sales need less academic discussion and more real-world experience. What freeloading has actually done is impact on the working musicians, the little guys who depend on these royalties, the laborers of the industry. P2p doesn’t touch the superstars and the industry has such deep pockets they’ll just ride this nightmare out. The people who do this thinking that they are clever or somehow “sticking it to the man” are badly misinformed and display little courage. Really changing capitalistic markets takes more than just cowardly shoplifting.

Do you think that each download is a lost sale?

No, of course not. That’s like saying each auto theft represents one lost car sale. That’s ridiculous. Just because someone sees something for sale and they want it for themselves and they take it without payment because technology affords them a way to do it doesn’t necessarily mean they would have purchased it were it not “take-able.”. But having said that, if you pay for it, you have the right to possess it and enjoy it according to the licensing and copyright regs that govern your purchase and possession. If you don’t like the law, tell your congressman. But if you didn’t pay for it then in my book you have no right to possess it. Not morally. Not ethically. Certainly not legally.

Do you think it’s a good idea to try and sue your customers into compliant consumers of corporate product?

No. But the way you’ve phrased your question begs that answer.

When music cd’s were what we purchased to posses our favorite songs people grumbled about their cost while we bought them legally, but we still bought them. We always could have passed, right? This isn’t medical care or food, it’s entertainment.

We complain about the cost of gas or milk or blue jeans, too, but you don’t see a crime wave hijacking gas stations or supermarkets or LEVI’s stores. Why? Because THAT takes balls. It takes courage and conviction —however wrong headed—to fill up your tank and then drive away unpaid. But Napster and its descendants now give cowards in our culture the free pass to take the gas and pull away unpaid while cloaked in technology and to much of the worlds amazement, THEY DO IT.

Bear in mind that much of all entertainment product is still purchased legally at face value. World culture hasn’t lost its bearings. No one has found a realistic alternative model yet and that whole “touring and tee-shirt” thing is bull, especially for new bands with no profile. Have you noticed that less than a dozen acts have come out anti-RIAA and everybody else–thousands and thousands of acts and musicians—are quiet and waiting? Humankind suddenly didn’t wake up one day and decide to throw out a thousand years of moral and ethical development and start to steal for a change. Only the p2p’ers did, the ones who think they are being clever, the ones raised poorly by their parents who saw no conflict with “three clicks and full ownership” of the entire Rolling Stones catalog at no charge to anyone.

If illegal downloading succeeds—if taking without paying becomes a market force ignored by law enforcement, we’re all fucked and the industries of the world know this. The network is only going to get bigger. Everybody wants to move their digital product online but piracy has stalled this migration for the moment until piracy is curtailed.

This issue, then, is far bigger than a few MP3’s, or a couple of pilfered movies, FreeThinker. This issue in the bigger picture represents whether or not respect for the law will have bearing on internet commerce in the future. I love this network and the consumer always wins but the freeloader (a small percentage) is not the consumer. The consumer pays. The capitalist market can be brought to its knees properly by simply not buying. Don’t think for ONE MINUTE that we in the industry don’t know that freeloading will be curtailed so that new paying digital market models have a chance to succeed. These organizations are not suing their “customers” and never were. Real music fans put their money where their mouth is. The guy who takes a car without paying is not a “customer”, FreeThinker. The industry is suing only people who take and don’t pay.

World government sees this issue for what it represents very clearly now and they see what they have to do. They don’t want to, but they have to. France and the EU are out ahead at the moment. If you want to see where this is going check them out. The single biggest mistake the p2p community makes is believing that innovation will always find a way to keep pirating product online a norm. The internet can and will be choked off at the ISP’s if that’s what it takes. I really believe the legacy of p2p is going to be an internet blanketed with law enforcement and surveillance at pinchpoints just to keep online commerce a practical reality.

The irony is that these organizations have sunk millions and millions and MILLIONS into education at colleges, trade shows, concerts, you name it, since 1999. The real truth is that the RIAA and the MPAA have bent over backwards for years trying to right this mess without resorting to legal means. The p2p community is just unwilling to learn how the law works in this area and the disaster we have today is the direct result. Are you sincerely suggesting that a crime-wave should be regarded as a market force? I doubt even you would believe that were it your market being ransacked.

So Freethinker, at this point I support additional education and whatever measures need be taken to make the law clearer, but I will never support illegal activity as a market force just on principle. There are legal, fair ways to do this and in my view freeloading is not one of them. We need to return to paying for product so our people are paid for the work they do.

Then we can get down to the business of reordering the industry through the normal market forces. The artists can press for better terms, but LEGALLY, and we can implement very cool technology that supports free trade within the checks and balances of our capitalist model, but LEGALLY. Paid digital distribution deserves a chance to succeed and if you don’t like the cost DON’T BUY IT. But don’t take it, either. I think it would be a real shame if we had to sit through a zillion ads online to finally take a “free” copy of FreeBird. Ugh.

http://www.p2pnet.net/story/14294

It explains Sam’s stance pretty well. and should avoid derailing another thread.

When that happens to me I go back to main page, refresh, and try again.
MOST of the time that clears up the problem

We’d really like to know.

But I’ll offer one last thought, a universal, reasonable guideline for any product created by any laborer in any industry under any business model:
“The act of taking for free the work of others that you know is properly intended by them for sale is wrong.”

Happy Holidays from Sam I Am.

[Both deleted - Jon]

The one good track actually sounded WORSE than the MP3 I had! The other tracks were all rubbish and had the same poor sound quality.

I returned it to the supermarket and said I wanted to return it, because I didn’t like it. The fat & common customer service droid said, “We are not allowed to take back CDs unless faulty, because of copyrights.” I said, oh just say it’s faulty then, please! She gave me a REALLY dirty look and refunded my money. hehe

For the record, it was so crap, it wasn’t even worth ripping and I still have that wonderful MP3, that I DIDN’T pay for!

Merry Christmas RIAA!!

Different opinions are fine. I may not like what you have to say, but you’re welcome to say it here. But fair warning: make your point and leave it at that. If I see posts from you, or anyone, else turning into RIAA-type bullshit like the one above ^^, I’ll delete them.

Cheers!