04
Nov
Punishing Innocent Downloaders Violates Free Speech, Professor Argues
“Internet users face a sort of “copytrap” when they encounter a Web site that falsely represents the downloading as legal. With no way to know whether a Web site’s representation is true, a downloader is likely to be deceived and thus face harsh penalties under the law.”
In the article they state that downloading is the same as copying, which I don’t entirely agree with. The problem with that comparison is that in every other form of copying I can think of, you see/hear/read or otherwise verify what the material is BEFORE copying. Downloading is unique because most of the time you are unable to verify the content before making the copy. Everyone (except maybe this professor) has realized this and does not attempt to punish someone as long as they take the appropriate action AFTER downloading.
How this applies to technologies such as bit torrent is questionable. There, not only are you downloading, but you are usually distributing content BEFORE you even know what the content is.
read more | digg story
