http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1572554/20071023/id_0.jhtml

Might have to take some measures myself for the next few months just to be sure...

the article specifically states the raid wasn't about individuals sharing music, but this guy pirating pre-release copies of albums and distributing them wholesale. unless you're doing the same, don't sweat it.

There is one thing that I have never truly understood about this country and it's criminal justice system. It could be phrased in a simple question:

How many people does it take who regularly break a law for that act to no longer be illegal?

I mean, jaywalking is illegal. How many people do you know who consciously sit and wait for the WALK light to come on if there is no traffic? There are a lot of laws that are broken on a daily basis, by millions of people because they do not see what they are doing as being wrong. Why does the minority rule in this case? I think it would make a lot more sense for laws to adapt to society.

My mom said we had a call about someone pirating movies and music. That was a few months ago.

More importantly you could make the case that it's not illegal to copy music from the radio or movies and shows that air on television for your own personal use, with the only caveat being it's not as high a quality as buying a CD or DVD, correct?

In that case, now that you can get an HD-quality source for radio AND movies on your settop box, you CAN directly copy those things, and be of equivalent quality. You've got to wonder how that stacks up.

My mom said we had a call about someone pirating movies and music. That was a few months ago.

She got confused - it was Best Buy telling you your Pirate movie came in. :D

More importantly you could make the case that it's not illegal to copy music from the radio or movies and shows that air on television for your own personal use, with the only caveat being it's not as high a quality as buying a CD or DVD, correct?

It actually is, in some jurisdictions, to record off radio or television.

But that's neither here nor there; the article was about releasing stolen pre-release copies of an album online, not music filesharing that most people do.

Ok all this other bullshit aside, I have to say that this fucking sickens me......
In recent years, international law enforcement agencies have beefed up efforts to curb illegal downloading, believed to be one of the most damaging forms of piracy for an industry already struggling to keep its collective head above water
....and this...
"The government is now well aware of the scale of damage this theft causes to music — copyright theft starves the creative industries of income, which both threatens future investment in artists and vandalizes our culture," said BPI's chief executive, Geoff Taylor.

Are they seriously trying to tell the public that the music industry is struggling financially? What a fucking load of horseshit. ......"struggling to keep its collective head above water".....LMMFAO,Give me a fucking break. IMHO, it would be a good thing for the music industry to take a massive financial hit...then maybe we would get less of the plastic bullshit that they mass produce today. I have never really liked Trent Reznor, but I think it was on this forum someone posted a vid of him telling his fans to steal his music and I have a great amount of respect for that. The focus needs to be on the quality of the talent rather than the "marketability" of some of these douchebags I hear these days.

the article specifically states the raid wasn't about individuals sharing music, but this guy pirating pre-release copies of albums and distributing them wholesale. unless you're doing the same, don't sweat it.
They also mentioned something along the lines of finding out the identities of members of the site involved with it, but after re-reading the article I see what you are saying. The main emphasis was the pre-release piracy.

And Herschel, that was my thoughts exactly. Maybe the sales wouldn't have dropped "one third in the last three years" if they would stop jacking prices up on the albums they are making. Also, if they started putting out music that was worth a damn it would sell better instead of this shit they try to put off on us as real tallent.

While I've never been a fan of Radiohead, I find their idea of making an album available from their website and allowing you to decide how much you, the consumer wants to pay for it, to be pretty cool. Mind you this is only something that established bands can attempt so who knows how much it will change things.

As for record sales dropping, it's pretty safe to say that my downloading habits would stay the same regardless of what record companies do. If I'm interested in a band, I'll download some of their stuff and if I really like the artist I'll buy their records regardless of the price. Perhaps I'm assuming here but I think that most people are the same.

Wow, what a bummer. R.I.P OiNK

Use encrypted protocols and you'll be fine.

ohhhh snaps. I was an Oink user.

What really sucks is that I became a member again exactly 2 days before the bust. Guess I should be happy I got the 4.27 gigs of stuff that I did. :(

Or unhappy if they ever decode the members database. :D

She got confused - it was Best Buy telling you your Pirate movie came in. :D

http://nachorevolution.com/img/gay_pirate_.jpg