Fair Use
The Fair Use doctrine of copyright law has been discussed by smarter and more verbose people than me all over the internets, but it still freaks me out to hear stuff like what the the head of litigation for Sony BMG, Jennifer Pariser, had to say at the trial of Capitol Records, et al v. Jammie Thomas. From Ars Technica:
Gabriel asked if it was wrong for consumers to make copies of music which they have purchased, even just one copy. Pariser replied, “When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song.” Making “a copy” of a purchased song is just “a nice way of saying ‘steals just one copy’,” she said.
Combined with the shocking(!) revelation that the lawsuits are costing the RIAA more than they bring in, this jury trial is getting more and more interesting.
As a kid, I figured it was mandatory for adults to have boring discussions about stuff like politics. Nowadays politics is boring (although the 2008 is going to be an absolute entertainment goldmine!) but I find myself drawn deeper and deeper in actually caring about copyright law and piracy. I never would have guessed it would be this interesting. As Thom and Jeff would say, “Who knew?”