3 ms·

It's the proportionality of the prosecution. If it was a hundred dollar fine and 10 hours of community service, that would be a different story. Let's put it t

• slantyyz 16y ago
  You can't own a song, but you can own a candy bar. As much as the ads say "own the cd now" or "own the blu ray now" you own nothing. You are just paying for a license and some otherwise useless physical media. Having said that, I still don't get why paying 99 cents for a song is so egregious if you've got a job.
  • lukifer 16y ago
    Yeah, the analogy to physical goods obviously doesn't hold; I just think it's funny that the same people who compare copyright violation to theft also tend to advocate suing for incredibly large amounts, when stealing the same physical item has a drastically smaller punishment. Interestingly enough, I suspect that if Big Media hadn't sought such absurdly punitive damages in the early days, (destroying what little credibility and moral high ground they had), most average people would have sided with them and aided in social enforcement. Something like, say, the cost of the infringing material plus a $100 fine would go a lot further to aid their cause than $100k lawsuits.