Online thieves attempt to avoid copyright infringment litigation

To the Editor:

So now the Technology and Business section of the San Francisco Chronicle (7/28/03) has taken upon itself to avail the on-line music thieves in a page one column, "Advice to avoid copyright litigation." I have one very short piece of advice: "Stop stealing other people's property." I guess that when faced with a potential fine for copyright violation from $750 to $150,000 per stolen song, our little on-line theftsters are having second thoughts about their "sharing" of other people's music. These stiff fines with make the legitimate purchase of CDs seem almost like a bargain in comparison. A little anonymous and you will see folks' true behavior: just watch the jerks and jerkettes speeding, cutting in and tailgating on your local freeway. This same supposed anonymity on the Internet has emboldened a new generation of thieves with many rationalizations: "It's OK, we're ripping off big corporations," "Everyone's doing it," "Who cares?"

It is truly breathtaking to see how much newspaper space is devoted to helping these on-line thieves. What's next: a spirited Internet defense of the "rights" of shoplifters and burglars?

In the same issue of the Chronicle, one of the letters writers suggests that the music industry is attempting to increase its sales by pursuing the financial ruin of past and potential customers who aren't buying the company's products. What a laugh. It's like Safeway or Albertson's grocery stores have the gall to stopping shoplifters from stealing food products without paying for them, and the bizarre notion that stopping shoplifting thieves and having them arrested and prosecuted is going hurt their businesses. Hmm.

People have been making their own music for thousands of years. It has only been in the past hundred years or so, that music has been recorded and then played at a distance from the recording site. So if you don't want to pay the "high" prices for music recorded on CDs, go out and make your own music. No one is stopping you.

Yours truly,

James K. Sayre

28 July 2003