Could the SOPA Bill help drive Linux adoption?

[cbanakis]

Many, many, MANY people have been sued. Most cases end in settlement though.



It is illegal. Copyright is a real law. There are penalties for breaking it. You can't do jail time for downloading though. Just distributing. I agree with pretty much everything else you said.

I guess I just define illegal differently.

To me, illegal implies that the authorities care, ie Police.

Copyright law is a civil matter.
Unless someone tries to sue you for copyright infringement, there are no legal ramifications.

And yes of course, there are legal ramifications for distribution, and sale.


But I will never been convinced that any of these law suites are real.

If anything, I would believe that "settlements" may have taken place.

But in this context, I would suggest that "Settlement" means,
some record labels attorney contacted someone, and said...

"We know you downloaded illegal music, and were gonna sue you unless you agree to pretend that we did sue you."

Also, as far as I know, parents cannot be held responsible for the crimes of their children.

If a child commits murder for example, they may be sent to a juvenile detention facility, or possibly charged as an adult.

Aside from voluntary legal fee's, parents do not face consequences for the crime.
So how exactly are parents being sued for their child downloading an mp3?

If anything, the child could be sued, but I do not believe a child can be charged in a civil suite. Maybe the judge would charge the child with disorderly conduct, and sentence them to community service. (I doubt any child has enough money, to be worth suing)

Of course, parents are responsible for children, and could possibly lose custody if they are deemed un-fit parents because of the crime, but I do not think they can be charged with a crime, or sued for something they did not do.

On top of all of that, I don't think it would be possible to win a lawsuit of any kind against someone for illegally downloading your intellectual property.

How exactly would you prove they downloaded it?
How do you know they were not the victims of some mp3 downloading virus.
Or maybe their wifi was compromised, and a neighbor did the downloading?
Maybe a friend used their computer.

And how exactly would any evidence be obtained?
By violating your privacy, and monitoring your internet traffic?

I would think that none of the evidence be allowed in court, and you may have grounds to file a counter-suite for violating your privacy.

The only way to legally obtain evidence would be with a warrant.
I'm not sure if a private citizen, or company can get a warrant.
Can they?

Keep in mind, that there is probably no way to get solid evidence in a situation like that anyway.
Everything would be circumstantial without a confession, or video surveillance of you downloading something.

Otherwise, all that can possibly be proven, is that an mp3 was downloaded on your internet account.
And I don't think that is enough, given the hundreds of ways that could have happened without you doing it.

[Elfy]

Closed - this has run it's course and has strayed so far as to not come back if called.