This is under the radar..ASSKKKROFT RAIDING MP3 SWAPPERS!

[UdoKier]

I realize there is no unanimity on this issue here, and This is not about starting a debate about whether or not P2P file-swapping is theft or not.

However, I do believe that AssKKKroft making THIS of all petty crimes a priority when people like Neil Bush can rob an S&L for $100 mil and WALK...well I just think it's disgusting.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/25/technology/file_sharing.reut/index.htm

Watch out, music lovers, the gestapo may be coming...

[prodigal_green]

1. Just testing their ability to get inside your computer.

also, pick on little kids and get them scared of big brother early in life.

[Gman]

2. Talk about attracting attention to yourself...

Each of the five hubs contained 40 petabytes of data, the equivalent of 60,000 movies or 10.5 million songs, Ashcroft said.

That is if you consider Asscroft credible.

[salvorhardin]

3. 40 petabytes sounds unlikely

40 petabytes = 41,943,040 gigabytes

A dual layer DVD can hold 8.5 gigabytes.

So 40 petabytes translates into 4,934,475 dual layer DVDs. The vast majority of people do not have dual layer DVD burners.

Most of us are stuck with plain old CD. With XVid or DivX compression, the average movie will squeeze down to 700 megabytes or enough to fit on a CD. 40 petabytes could hold a whopping 61,356,676 movies this way.

Now, let's look at music. I'm going to assume a 5 minute song compressed in MP3 format at roughly 1MB/min or 5MB per song. This means 40 petabytes could hold 8,589,934,592 (that's 8.6 BILLION songs).

If the music was stored uncompressed in the format it's on the CD, and assuming each CD is fully used, then the 61,356,676 number would also apply to CDs.

Once again, the administration's math does not check out. Someone please check my math though! I'm horrible at 'rithmatic.

On edit: Note that I'm using the traditional comp.sci. numeric prefixes. So 1 gigabyte does not equal 10^9 bytes, but rather 2^30 bytes or 1,073,741,824 bytes. A petabyte would be 2^50 bytes, terabyte would be 2^40 bytes and a megabyte 2^20 bytes. I'm not sure if CD storage is measured in powers of 2 or powers of 10.

[Murdock]

4. Check out this OpEd from 1997..

http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itgic/1097/ijge/gj-7.htm

How Ironic in the times we live in...

[Selwynn]

5. There is 90% unaimity here :)

According to the last time a poll was done anyway... :)

There are couple people who WORK for the entertainment industry who see it differently big shock.

[UdoKier]

7. I'm not a big-time downloader, but...

I don't feel bad about downloading what I do for these reasons:

1. Most of what I've downloaded is stuff I've ALREADY BOUGHT in obsolete formats. So I have already PAID for the "intellectual property". I download almost exclusively old stuff.

2. When they started to shift from records & cassettes to CD's they were more than THREE TIMES the price - the record companies cited "higher production costs" and promised that the prices would come down. Of course, they never did.

3. I bought TONS of CDs at those gouging prices and I do feel very much ripped-off now that I know the actual cost of the CD, burning, transportation, and packaging is less than $1. And the artist only gets a tiny cut, too.

4. I will continue to buy CDs when they put out a decent product, but the new product is absolute dreck. It amazes me that ANYONE would pay $20 for "My Milkshake".

And how sad is it that the most innovative pop group of the last 5 years is "Outkast"?

4. To me it is the same as recording a song off the radio. The company/artist loses NO physical property, and the assumption that they would be able to actually sell the CD is bogus. The quality is NOT quite the same as that of a real CD, and it doesn't include any of the packaging, etc.

[jmowreader]

8. Minor problem with number three, UdoKier

The CDs you get at the store aren't burned, they're stamped. It takes five seconds to stamp a CD. Your packaging numbers are a bit off too--if you had the machine to injection-mold a CD, you'd probably have the one that injection-molds jewel cases too. So figure your numbers are high by at least 100 percent.

[UdoKier]

9. Oops, sorry.

Point is, the production costs are DIRT CHEAP, but they are still charging like it's a new technology.

[Selwynn]

6. No matter how hard the govt. tries, they will never, ever, beat innovation

It has been a losing battle EVERY TIME the government has fought it. So I offer them my middle finger salute.