4 ms·
Your analogy is paired because both piracy and meth are illegal in the USA. However, the pairing lacks equivalence in my view because crystal meth is clearly (a
by canadaduane 14y ago
Your analogy is paired because both piracy and meth are illegal in the USA. However, the pairing lacks equivalence in my view because crystal meth is clearly (and by nature, not by law) harmful to the user, while piracy is not.
A better analogy might be a website that helps others circumvent the Great Firewall of China. It is illegal in one particular country, but circumvention does not harm individuals (only the society, one could argue). "We don't circumvent the wall, we don't run a proxy, we don't belong to tor: that's how not interested in circumventing the wall we are."
- rmc 14y agoYour censorship analogy is flawed, since copyright infringement is not legal in any country (im not sure, but Ethiopia might have started recognising foreign copyrights now)
- canadaduane 14y agoI'm curious if you have a better analogy?
- PeterisP 14y agoDownloading movies from torrents is legal in Canada (covered by a copyright levy on data storage media), for example.
- krzyk 14y agoIn Poland it's also completely legal if you don't distribute (seed) it. Legal for movies and music, illegal for programs/games.
- nddrylliog 14y agoSame goes here in Switzerland. We have a tax on storage media that is supposed to cover that use case.
- reaktivo 14y agoIn many countries or at least Mexico, copying or linking to copyrighted material != copyright infringement , copying + profit does.
- true_religion 14y agoLinking is not considered copyright infringement in most of Europe. Your analogy has no legs.
- pbhjpbhj 14y ago>since copyright infringement is not legal in any country // Last time I looked there were still a few countries that weren't signatories to international copyright laws, PNG I think was one? Maybe Nauru, Tuvalu, Vatican City? http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/summary.jsp http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/summary.jsp gives details of those places that aren't party to _international_ IP treaties. Note Vatican City is in that list as "Holy See" and is a signatory to a few IP treaties.
- MichaelGG 14y ago"crystal meth is clearly (and by nature, not by law) harmful to the user, while piracy is not" Methamphetamine is helpful for hyperactivity, obesity, and narcolepsy. I am having trouble constructing parameters in which your statement is true, but does not apply to nearly everything. For example, Tylenol (APAP) is clearly harmful to a user's liver.