{"id":872,"date":"2007-09-20T00:17:05","date_gmt":"2007-09-20T04:17:05","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2008-12-10T16:41:40","modified_gmt":"2008-12-10T16:41:40","slug":"is-unauthorized-downloading-akin-to-thef","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/is-unauthorized-downloading-akin-to-thef\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Unauthorized Downloading Akin to Theft?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Rc53eG1Gbv0?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nMany years have passed since we first gained the ability to <strong>&#8220;file share&#8221;<\/strong> and otherwise download .mp3s without the permission of artists and record labels. Some of us may recall a day when we found this practice &#8220;immoral&#8221; or, at least, &#8220;objectionable.&#8221; I&#8217;m sure most of us with these memories next remember our first rationalizations for the unauthorized downloads we began making.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I only download stuff that&#8217;s out of print.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/RockTownHall\/SlappHappy_Sort of...SlappHappy_09_Who'sGonnaHelpMeNow.mp3\" title=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/RockTownHall\/SlappHappy_Sort of...SlappHappy_09_Who'sGonnaHelpMeNow.mp3\">Slap Happy, &#8220;Who&#8217;s Gonna Help Me Now?&#8221;<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I only download major label stuff.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/RockTownHall\/EmptyHeart.mp3\" title=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/RockTownHall\/EmptyHeart.mp3\">The Rolling Stones, &#8220;Empty Heart&#8221;<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;When I really like something I&#8217;ve downloaded I make sure to go out and buy the CD.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/RockTownHall\/JonHassell_VernalEquinox_05_VernalEquinox.mp3\" title=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/RockTownHall\/JonHassell_VernalEquinox_05_VernalEquinox.mp3\">Jon Hassel, &#8220;Vernal Equinox&#8221;<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sound familiar?<\/p>\n<p>Driving home last night I heard an upcoming preview for a segment on this evening&#8217;s NPR&#8217;s <em>Marketplace<\/em> show about illegal downloads. A person interviewed in the preview clip said something to the effect of, <em>&#8220;Would you ever say it&#8217;s all right to walk into a record store and steal a CD?&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I thought about this for at least a half a second: I would never say <em>that&#8217;s<\/em> all right. However, with each new unauthorized download I occasionally make (and I make plenty more authorized ones, if you need one more rationalization), I do <em>not<\/em> equate illegal downloads with theft. In fact, this evening I began wondering if downloading was akin to &#8211; I haven&#8217;t quite put my finger on it &#8211; something like <strong>sightseeing<\/strong>, after you&#8217;ve already paid your way on vacation. Are these .mp3s floating around out there the information highway&#8217;s form of natural wonders, cool roadside diners, license plates from distant states?<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m also curious: is there anyone left who refuses to download unauthorized tracks on what I&#8217;m sure is solid moral ground? All these blogs any of us may visit &#8211; is there one Townsperson among us who resists the urge to click on an .mp3?<\/p>\n<p>I look forward to your thoughts on this matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many years have passed since we first gained the ability to &#8220;file share&#8221; and otherwise download .mp3s without the permission of artists and record labels. Some of us may recall a day when we found this practice &#8220;immoral&#8221; or, at least, &#8220;objectionable.&#8221; I&#8217;m sure most of us with these memories next remember our first rationalizations <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/is-unauthorized-downloading-akin-to-thef\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}