The American Spectator

/p> p> NO SUCH THING AS A FREE HUNCH : br> Re: Francis X. Rocca’s Download Freeloaders : /p>

Two points: One, bootlegging and downloading music from the Internet are not the same thing according to the law. Bootlegging is the sale of illegally produced materials in violation of the copyright laws. Unless I missed something, nobody is selling music illegally on the Internet, they are giving it away. Which brings me to item 2; unless I missed the congressional action on the copyright statute, it is not illegal to give away copies of music whether one owns the copyright or not. Recording companies gain a royalty on every blank cassette and blank audio CD (not data CD’s used by computers) sold in this country. This was the compromise reached to allow updating of the copyright law. I’m not sure of the date.

p>The problem now is that digital copies of digital copies lose no fidelity in the copying like analog copies did. I agree this is a problem but until Congress amends the copyright law to address the peer to peer swapping of music, it may be immoral to download but it is not illegal. br> — Dave Kuchler br> North Brunswick, New Jersey /p>

If Francis X. Rocca wants to understand the future of intellectual property, he needs to stop analyzing the moral arguments of sixteen year olds and deal with the real issue.