Stealing is Criminal. Copyright Infringment isn't.

Woots, two in a row for me. I'm pretty new at this, so forgive any formatting mistakes. I made more than I expected to on my first post. I'll do better on the next one. Speaking of which...

From: 3rd comment on Not After a Fair Fight
Date: Sept. 21, 2009
By: iwantthetaxpayertochangetheworld

Lily,

Copyright infringement, which is the law you're breaking when you share files without permission, is not stealing. It's a against the law, true, but it's a civil action rather than a criminal one. The change that Peter Mandelson has proposed would make it a criminal action like stealing a CD from a shop, but until that change is made to the law it is *not* stealing.

While we're on the subject of human rights I think you'd do well to take a look at the UN Declaration of Human Rights; Article 11(2) states that noone can be charged with a crime if their action wasn't a crime when they did it. Therefore, even if Mandelson's change comes into effect, people sharing files now are *not* criminals.

Please, for the sake of your argument and so you don't continue to look silly, stop saying it's stealing. It isn't, either morally, legally, or otherwise. (Yet.)

UN Declaration of Human Rights: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

Speaking of Human Rights, did you know that internet access has already been declared a fundamental human right in several countries? In fact, last I heard, the EU was thinking of championing that position too. I seem to remember you saying something about disconnection not being a violation of civil liberties...

Rebuttal: Not After a Fair Fight

Lily Rose Allen is wrong. Usually.

From: Not After a Fair Fight
Date: Sept. 21, 2009
By: Lily Allen

I want to make it clear that I'm not after a fight with the Featured Artists Coalition

Sure looks like it to me, but hey, I can't read minds.

– I want us artists to stand together on this – but they’ve released a new statement which just doesn’t make sense. The FAC seems to be viewing the government’s proposed legislation as an attack on freedom and liberty, but stealing’s not really a human right, is it?

Way to cloud the issue. It's not about stealing. Ever notice how only one side is talking about stealing? It's about being disconnected from the internet. Learn your topic, please.

What the government is proposing is the temporary suspension of the internet accounts of people that are repeatedly downloading loads of music through unlawful P2P file-sharing – as a last resort after they’ve been sent warnings.

Ok, three mistakes in one sentance. It's because of stuff like this that I made this blog. Allow me to correct you:

1) Disconnection isn't over music. It's over copyright infringment. Be it movies, games or music. Your industry isn't the only one being affected.
2) Use of P2P software isn't a requirement for disconnection.
3) You are right about the warnings, but disconnection would be the first resort, not the last one.

It doesn’t mean the government’s going to look at everything sent over the internet, as the FAC says – how would the government even do this?

DING DING DING! Correct!

The proposal is to look at P2P sites – which are public anyway – to identify people who are acting unlawfully, so they can be asked, and then made, to stop. Not really an attack on civil liberties there.

You're making me rage. Ever hear of PeerMedia? Take a look at how they operate. That's how it's gonna work. Nobody is going to go around and see if you're a member of The Pirate Bay (for example, if you're reading this I doubt that you are.) Does their methods violate your civil liberties? Well, that's a whole debate for a different time. Suffice to say, you can't write if off with one sentence completely devoid of argument or proof. And what's this about being asked? LOL.

The FAC also talk about the importance of free music to promote albums – like the free tracks you might get on NME. But the crucial difference is that the artist is in control of these.

You mean the label is in control of those. Once an artist signs on with say, EMI, they lose a lot of control over their content. Hate to say it, but you're wrong. Educate yourself.

With file-sharing they’re not. Artists should be in charge of how their music is distributed – not some file-sharer who decides they deserve everything for free, just because they know how to steal it.

And certainly not some record label exec who knows how to steal from artists either. And yes, execs steal from artists too (Share cropping. Look it up.) The only difference is that the execs get private jets for doing it.

I don’t want to promote a divide amongst artists.

Some of what the FAC says is spot on – they want to look at new ways of legally distributing music, just like pretty much every other artist. But we need to make clear unlawful file-sharing is wrong and make an attempt to stop it, if we’re going to give the legal ways a chance.

Is file sharing wrong? If you're going to stop something on the basis that it's "wrong" you should at least try and show that it is.

Since I’ve started blogging about this, I’m getting a lot of people email with their opinions. Apparently there are a lot of younger people at the record labels who do understand digital and want to come up with new ways everyone can get to music, but everytime they try something new it fails to win through against the ‘free’ stuff available unlawfully from file-sharing.

Yeah, largely because of the idiocy of Corporate Music, not because of the free option. DRM is a sure fire way to convert paying customers to pirates. Not the other way around.

So the fact there’s nothing in place to stop file-sharing is actually preventing the industry develop new ways of getting music to people, as well as harming new artists.

File sharing is a great way for new artists to get the word out about their band, grow their fan base and expand their reach. File sharing doesn't start to harm the band until after they've gained some notoriety. After all, if no-body knows about your music, and nobody buys it, you haven't lost a penny. At some point in time, sure, file sharing lowers their sales. But not for new bands.

I 'd also like to stress that the music business is not just made up of artists and record company execs,. ALOT of people seem to think that the record labels are to blame for this whole thing because they have been overcharging the consumer for too long, while this may be partly true, i wouldn't want to be seen as supporting file sharing, even if it does mean reaching a bigger audience and earning money from ticket sales .

Protip: Use multiple smaller sentences instead of one large one. Anyways, Record Companies are to blame for most of their own problems. And the ones that they're not at fault for can't be fixed by disconnecting people. And what's this about not wanting to support file sharing, even if it means reaching a larger audience? Think about it, the sheer idiocy of that statement should come flying out.

People are losing their jobs as a result of illegal downloads. In the same way that all those people lost their jobs at car factories last year, because people stopped buying cars. The music industry is now facing destruction because people have stopped buying music.

Ok, I have to stop you right there. That pisses me off every time I hear it. The MUSIC industry? Hey, ever hear of a guy named Beethoven? He never sold a single album. Not one. What's at stake here is the recording industry. Music is imortal (and I mean it literally, not figuratively.) It has existed as long as there has been culture. Oh, and the big reason why people are losing their jobs is because technology is getting so that kids from community college can mix an album in their spare time and because recording equipment is getting cheap.

For every car sold in the UK , a small piece of that profit will go to the designers of the cars, there are thousands ands thousands of other people working in the motor industry that need to be paid too. If we stop paying for a product, the industry supporting that product falls apart, as we have seen over the past few years. i hope that made sense....

If we’re going to change anything us artists need to stand together. If you’re in the business and you agree that we should be encouraging new talent, preventing file-sharing and preventing the collapse of an industry – as well as coming up with new ways to legally get music – then help me out.

Final Score? Mostly Wrong.