p2pnet.net News:- “A month ago I commented on the two men sentenced to 5 years in prison for distributing pirated music, movies, and software over file-sharing networks in Another Milestone Against Piracy,” writes Princeton University student Brian Shiau on his blog.

“These individuals appeared to be central to the piracy process, ripping digital content and distributing it online.”

But what sparked his newest post was the story centering on the University of Arizona student for “possession of pirated movies and music” worth (wait for it) $50,000,000.

Read on >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Deterring piracy steps up to a whole other level
By Brian Shiau – Shiau Street, a tech + stocks blog

This criminal conviction really hits home as it could happen to any one of us. But will this change anything? Back in 2003, an undergraduate student here at Princeton was sued by the RIAA for creating a search engine for piracy. He ultimately settled somewhere north of $10,000. This legal action shut down all the student made search engines and deterred many students from sharing pirated content over the school’s network. However, this did not stop piracy on campus. Students continued to use file sharing programs like Kazaa and BitTorent applications. A student by the nick name “Jiller” created a DC++ network that was supposed to be hidden from the administration but was recently shut down.

I believe this recent criminal suit is different. First, this time the wrong doing was not about setting up a network or distributing massive amounts of pirated content. This time the individual was punished for possession–something many people think will not get them in trouble.

College students don’t have much money to start with. Any money they lose to an RIAA settlement is coming from their parents anyways. With criminal punishments, the college student actually has to pay the price for his wrong doing. He can’t send his parents to prison in his place.

Additionally, few if anyone is ever punished because the law makes it too difficult for the RIAA to file suit. But enforcement by the government certainly changes things. No longer is big business picking on the little guy but the government is punishing wrongdoers for what they are doing wrong: stealing. I generally don’t like to look to the government to instill morality but sadly, government crackdown is often what is necessary for people to realize that something is wrong. Of course, the prime purpose of government for the past 6,000 years has been to protect life and property.

In my ideal fantasy world, parents teach their children morality at an early age. They teach their children the value of hard work and the necessity to exchange value for value rather than steal. I whole-heartedly believe that America is a nation built on innovation, but this can only continue if we as Americans recognize the value innovative individuals bring to the market.

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See:-
$50,000,000 – RIAA nails U of Arizona student, p2pnet, March 8, 2005
FBI agents – FBI raids Arizona schools, p2pnet, April 22, 2004

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 8th, 2005 at 6:56 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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