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)

• HTML Format. (read online)
• Acrobat Reader (PDF) Format.
• Original DocBook/XML.
• CSS Stylesheet, XSLT Driver for the DocBook XSL stylesheets.

Previous Editions

Second Edition

• HTML Format. (read online)
• Acrobat Reader (PDF) Format.
• Original DocBook/XML.
• CSS Stylesheet, XSLT Driver for the DocBook XSL stylesheets.

First Edition

• HTML Format. (read online)
• Acrobat Reader (PDF) Format.
• Original DocBook/XML.
• CSS Stylesheet, XSLT Driver for the DocBook XSL stylesheets.

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 a 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.