Very well said - and you've pretty much nailed the heart of the problem. The mistake as I see it is in ruling on individual cases as a matter of some matter of

Very well said - and you've pretty much nailed the heart of the problem. The mistake as I see it is in ruling on individual cases as a matter of some matter of single process that in itself can be ruled fair and unfair - where this in turn is derived from some fundamental intuition. Currently the DCMA does this on the basis of 'stealing is wrong' and 'only the individuals who directly perpetrate the crime of stealing should be held accountable' Following from this intuitive starting point leads to the dilemma that you point out - insofar as the end result accords with our sensibilities in some cases (like the oatmeal) but not others - like worrying about massive multinationals that rip their artists off continually and seek to monopolise distribution channels to create artificial scarcity. But believing you can find a single rational system that can encompass all facets is just madness. This is reason become its opposite - something I saw all the time when studying various ethics related subjects. Some philosopher would come up with some kind of intuitive starting point and then reason it out until the Nth fucking degree until it was obviously wrong. Then folks would say - that's not right - and try to draw it back to another intuitive starting point that handles the counter examples better... until that itself becomes another absurdity. Moral intuitions transcend the rational reality upon which most of law tries to base itself. So STOP MAKING IT A MATTER OF LAW.... Let people self regulate - as they are doing most excellently here. We know what's right in this case. Funnyjunk is behaving like a turd. Do I have to reason this back to an intuitive absolute foundation that gets the right answer for how multnational comglomerates should be treated? No. Not being able to do that in a perfectly consistent rational way actually does not confer any degree of doubt on the pronouncement against funnyjunk in this case. Shit like this is of course one of the main reasons I want smaller government... not because it's necessarily bad if they get all keynesyan every once and a while... or bail out some nasty bankers... because government - at all levels - is invested in the very roots and beings of how we relate to each other... it's bizarrely fascist and horrible... Soz </end rant>