Re: New LAL; Ripping CDs

["L. Bird" <pkeets@hotmail.com>]

> > it up in International court.  They should not take the company's
>employees hostage.
>
>I don't think they did. I think they took the perp into custody, as
>proscribed by US law.

But he hasn't broken any US laws while in the US.  If they'd arrested him 
for industrial espionage, then it'd make better sense.  Instead, they've 
arrested him for helping to produce a software product which is legal in his 
home country.  They haven't even made an issue of whether the Russian 
government is encouraging their domestic companies to look for money-making 
opportunities in the vein of Napster.

This case is similar to the foreign production of bootleg band cds which was 
entirely legal--wasn't that in Italy?  I didn't hear anything about the US 
arresting any employees of Italian companies for bootlegging.


>As a person with a small-but-measurable bit of Cherokee blood, I can safely 
>say that a case could be made for the US being numero uno.

Well, okay, I guess the US doesn't have any lock on the tendency.  Maybe 
what disturbs me about this instance is that US business looks to be 
attempting to squash competition by arresting the employees of foreign 
competitiors.  Shades of William Gibson.

Action against Napster and MP3.com was in the nature of civil suit, as there 
was a question as to whether they actually violated copyrights laws.  What 
would have happened if the FBI had raided the companies and thrown the 
employees in jail?  They're just picking on this poor guy because they can.

Is this an indication of desperation, do you suppose?  There's a lot of 
money behind the effort to squash competing technology, as the companies in 
control have an empire worth billions of dollars to lose.  From the artist 
standpoint, it seems like Pete might have the right idea.  Musicians have 
always made more from performing anyway, and the radio/TV play is just 
give-aways.  As for the recordings, put them out there to sell, and lots of 
folks will observe the copyright and send in their money.


keets

_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp