Megaupload.com seized

Fri Jan 20 16:14:16 UTC 2012

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Robert Bonomi" <bonomi at mail.r-bonomi.com>

> Mark Andrews <marka at isc.org> wrote:
> > I suspect most file sharing site don't have illegal content. Most
> > would have some content that is there without the permission of the
> > copyright holder. These are different things.
> 
> <nitpick>
> "Without the permission of the copyright holder" _is_ contrary to
> statute, and thus 'against the law'. As such 'illegal' is _not_
> an incorrect term to apply to the situation.
> 
> It may not be a _criminal_ violation, but it is still proscribed by
> law.
> 
> "Illegal" and "criminal" -- _these_ are different things.

<nitpick level="2">
The *act of making the copy (available)* may be contrary to law (and whether
the law should make this particular category of copyright infringement a
criminal offense, rather than the civil one it's been for over a century is
a completely different topic :-)...

but whether the *contents of the file themselves* contravene some law is,
I think, the issue that Mark was talking about, and clearly we all agree,
a copy of Gigli, while a crime against nature, is not inherently criminal,
in the way that a Traci Lords film is.

Cheers,
-- jra
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                  Baylink                       jra at baylink.com
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