Re: Stallman Admits to Copyright Infringement
On Tue, May 16, 2000 at 10:18:07AM +0100, Jules Bean wrote:
> There's such a thing as laws getting out of touch with what the people
> need. It is a fairly well accepted fact that widestream taping of
> music has totally failed to cripple the record industry, despite its
> dire predictions. There's also such a thing as civil disobedience, and
> the people showing the government its laws are out of date, knowing
> that the government is beholden to corporate pressure and some
> standard democratic measures are ineffective.
For the record, it's worth pointing out something most people seem to
miss: Civil disobedience is not a legal defense. You can claim it is why
you did something that is illegal under current laws, however it does not
excuse you from the consiquences of your actions should the powers that be
in a given instance of such decide to press the matter (usually to make an
example of someone early on to prevent further civil disobedience,
naturally..)
Meaning that if you trade in illegal mp3s, don't come crying when the
Copyright holders sue. Thye have every right to sue under current laws,
and violating them in the name of civil disobedience won't get you squat
if they go after you for it.
--
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