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The Case for File Swapping

There’s a lot of fuss about how bad Internet file swapping (i.e: the sharing and downloading of copyrighted work) is and the fact that many people who download illegal files from the Internet think they are doing something wrong. However, few people have stopped to ask some important questions: should it be illegal? Can it be stopped? Is fighting it worth it?

The purpose of this essay is to explain why file swapping is not an illegitimate action and should in fact be legal.

Formats (Third edition)

Previous Editions

Second Edition

First Edition

Translations

Hebrew (Ongoing translation on a Wiki).

Coverage and Comments

Entry in my weblog about it - one can comment using the LiveJournal commenting system.
An E-mail I sent to a writers mailing list after one of its members passed a critique of the theme.
Coverage in linmagazine.co.il in Hebrew.
Discussion in the “Joel on Software” forum
Discussion on the London Perl Mongers mailing list

More (Newer) Links

Only 2 in 500 college students believe that downloading a copyrighted work from the Internet is wrong.
RIAA Now Suing People who Rip CDs
Investors, “Beware” of Record Companies
RIAA’s “Misspeaking” May Have Affected Verdict
Pirate Yourself - Become a Best-Seller - the story of Paulo Coelho’s success.
The Semantics of File Sharing
UK ISPs to Face Piracy Deadline
“Why Intellectual Property Does Not Exist, Part 3502” - if someone sells you a copyrighted work, why can’t you do anything you want with it, including giving it away?
“If Intellectual Property is Property, Where is the Property Tax?”
“University of San Fransisco Law Clinic Joins Fight Against RIAA”
“The BPI Makes the BBC Broadcast its Stupidity” - contains links to studies that show that “people who file share tend to be bigger music fans, and are more likely to spend on music”.
“Piracy-Schmiracy: The Dark Knight Rakes In the Dough”
“Study Suggests Music Industry Embrace Piracy”
“Tenise Barker Takes On RIAA Damages Theory” - the making available stuff and the RIAA damages theory.
“Ars Examines Outlandish ‘Lost to Piracy’ Claims and Figures” (10-October-2008)
xkcd - A Webcomic - “Steal This Comic”
“Learning to Profit From Piracy” (on Slashdot) - a coverage of an interview with the author of the Pirate’s Dilemma.
“French Record Labels Go After Limewire, SourceForge” - the comments are also illustrative. “Why not sue the gun makers for crimes people commit using guns?”
“Nine Inch Nails’ CC-Licensed Best-Selling MP3 Album” (Creative Commons Blog) (5-January-2008) - Ghosts I-IV is freely distributable legally (and licensed under a Creative Commons licence), yet was a huge commercial success in the year it was released.
“Dutch Study Says Filesharing Has Positive Economic Effects” (9-January-2009)
“After Monty Python Goes YouTube, Big Jump In DVD Sales” (24-January-2009) after Monty Python puts their material on YouTube, they witness a 23,000 percent increase in DVD sales.
Open dot dot dot: “The Kids Are Spot-on” (17-February-2009)
TorrentFreak: “U2’s New Album Leaks Early Despite ‘Private Hearings’” (18-February-2009)
- Coverage in Hetz Ben-Hamo’s Blog(in Hebrew) (20-February-2009)
open...: “How to Make Money from Music” - about Aerosmith’s success in selling their version of Guitar Hero (02-March-2009)
open...: “Why Music Companies are Doomed Regardless” (16-March-2009)
“File sharing is not piracy - a handy guide” - an amusing cartoon.
open-dot-dot-dot: “The Internet’s Infinite Exploitation” (26-May-2009)
Slashdot: “Kindle, Zune DRM Restrictions Coming Into Focus” (21-June-2009)
8 Logical Rebuttals of Anti-Piracy Arguments (2-July-2009)
Slashdot: “Copyright Should Encourage Derivative Works” (3-July-2009)
Slashdot: “RIAA Says ‘Don’t Expect DRMed Music To Work Forever’” (30-July-2009)
“[U.K.] Musicians oppose disconnection of filesharers” - on “Amused Cynicism: The personal blog of the Campaigns Officer of Pirate Party UK” (03-September-2009).
Paul Graham: “Post-Medium Publishers” - about the content publishers. (10-September-2009).
Michael Geist - “The ACTA Internet Chapter: Putting the Pieces Together” (3-November-2009).
Glyn Moody - “Making Money by Giving Stuff Away” (28-December-2009)
Slashdot.org: “Obama DOJ Sides With RIAA Again in Tenenbaum” (20-January-2010)
Glyn Moody - “Why Making Money from Free Software Matters”
opendotdotdot: “Sharing: Theft or Duty?” (26-September-2010)
TECHi: “The RIAA and MPAA Have Failed To Understand A Cultural Shift” - especially illustrative is the “if you are a pirate” vs. “if you are a paying customer” diagram.
OSNews.com: Francis Ford Coppola: “Who Says Artists Have to Make Money?” - also see the many comments.
OSNews.com: “The Case for Piracy” - coverage of an article on ABC.net.au. (25-October-2011)
“Will Bill S.978 Put Bieber Behind Bars?”. (25-October-2011)
Ars Technica: “Piracy problems? US copyright industries show terrific health”. (02-November-2011)
Glyn Moody: “Why The Supreme Court’s ‘Grokster’ Decision Led To More, Not Less, P2P Filesharing”. (22-November-2011)
Glyn Moody: “Why We Don’t Need To ‘Think of the Artists’: They’re Doing Fine. (02-December-2011)
Glyn Moody: “Getting It: In A World Of Digital Abundance, Sell the Scarcities” - why artists are making more money on live performances, greatly offsetting their record sales (with an analogy to what Charles Dickens did back in the 19th century). (07-December-2011)
Glyn Moody: “Top Photographer On Why He Doesn't Care If His Stuff Is Pirated”. (20-December-2011)
Glyn Moody: “If Politicians Pushing SOPA/PIPA Want To Create Jobs, They Should Support The Internet — And Stop Treating Copyright Companies As Special”. (3-February-2012)
Forbes: “You Will Never Kill Piracy, and Piracy Will Never Kill You” (by Paul Tassi) - especially see the idea for a “movie steam” application for selling films, that will make illegally copying films less popular.
“Microsoft DMCA Notice ‘Mistakenly’ Targets BBC, Techcrunch, Wikipedia and U.S. Govt” (on TorrentFreak) (7-October-2012)
“Free Mickey Mouse - The Disney Way” - post to the Creative Commons community list by Shlomi Fish (= me). (5-March-2013)
Slashdot: “HBO Says Game of Thrones Piracy is ‘a Compliment’” (31-March-2013).
“Sony Blocks Sintel on YouTube” (5-April-2014)
"Defective by Design: We oppose DRM" - by the Free Software Foundation. ( Wikipedia Page. )