Okay, I had a long post that said a lot of stuff and asked a lot of questions. It's gone now because of my stupid dialup connection. I HATE DIAL-UP. I can't wait to get home and back on my cable connection.
Earlier this week RIAA's outright confrontational behavior jumped about 1000 notches. They hate file sharing, they hate you if you share files, and now if you're an end consumer they want to get you and make you pay for what you stole. It's big enough it warranted mention by Tycho of Penny-Arcade.
I don't download music from file sharing programs much, I can't afford the CDs and I don't feel right when I have things I don't own. So I see eye to eye with Tycho's opinion, I find it kindof hard to be really mad at the RIAA for suing people for breaking the law. It mayb be silly, they may be making the worst resort instead of thinking of other models of business, but darn it they have every right to persue those interests under U.S. law and I just can't be mad at them for it. Music isn't really my thing so I can live without it.
Tycho went on further to say that perhaps equally dumb a move on the parts of consumers is to not ensure that they are anonymous. And linked to some anonymous file sharing programs. And something very cool too. I was immediately impressed with freenet as a sort of pillar of free speach in a world gone mad.
Really good people are not sane. Look at them in the movies, they let themselves die for other people. They suffer for what is right. In this case it's about taking the good with the bad of free speach. If it weren't getting more and more important to be anonymous when you did things then the world would be a better place. You can admit to crimes and not be found. Anonymity can be so easily abused. And so you must ask yourself, what cost is my freedom worth?
If you spend any length of time on freenet it will become readily apparent that anything that can be abused, will be. And yet perhaps it is best to accept the good with the bad as a price for our own freedom. There is a dark side to that kind of freedom, there will be a lot of bad things there, so enter knowing what youre getting into and remember that freedom is always faught for by the criminals who opose unjust laws.