Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002

Commentary on File Sharing and Piracy Controvery

“Copying is Theft …” And other legal myths in the looming battle over peer-to-peer, by Mark D. Rasch, J.D., former head of the Justice Department’s computer crime unit, and now Senior Vice President and Chief Security Counsel at Solutionary Inc.

  • “The RIAA, MPAA and copyright holders describe P2P users as “pirates” – invoking images of swashbuckling pre-teens hauling up the Jolly Roger and stealing intellectual property in the dead of night. New ads announced by MPAA President Jack Valente impress the idea that “copying is stealing” and that someone who burns MP3s is no different from those who slip a CD under their shirt at the local Tower Records…. “copying” is not “stealing” but can be “infringing.”
  • Sorry, comments are closed for this post.