franticindustries.com — The high court of Italy ruled that downloading files - be it software, music, or movies - is not illegal if profit is not the motivation. The case was a lawsuit against two students who set up a p2p file-sharing network, and who were initially convinced to one year in prison. The highest court in Italy overthrew the decision, and set them free.
Jan 27, 2007 View in Crawl 4
aniceatheistJan 28, 2007
It has nothing to do whether the individual gains or loses, but whether the artist loses out!So does the artist lose out. Well If I never plan on paying for the movie for whatever reason. (Lets say I can't afford it, I'm too poor) has the artist lost anything in my watching said movie? no in fact the artist stand to gain through word of mouth advertising, through me becoming a fan of her work, through me loving it so much that even though normally I can't afford it I go out of my way to purchase it for all the extras the dvd has and becuase it looks shiny on my table.Now lets say I can afford it and the only reason I am not buying these movies anymore is because I can download them for free. Does the artist lose out? YES they do. how much do they lose on a $15 movie? Probably $2 to $3 at most. So now the question becomes what is worse in a society, stiffing an artist of $2 to $3 or parking in a fire lane where it can potentially cost Tens of thousands of dollars and the loss of life. How many citizens are clamoring their government for protection against down-loaders? Is it truly a representative government that spends such an inordinate amount of time on an issue that affects a very small % of the population while ignoring much larger issues affecting a broad group of voters.
theyellowmoleJan 28, 2007
Judge: Well, I'm going to have to ask you to go to prisonStudent: Oh, well, the thing about that....Judge: Pleeease?Student: I don't know, I'm still kind of unsureJudge: What if I gave you both top bunks?Students: OK it's a deal, but you owe us one.Judge: Done. Now just put these handcuffs on yourselves and I'll have security show you to your cells.
arbguy1Jan 28, 2007
finally, a country that seas a difference between stealing, and writing numbers on a hard drive
jamthehutJan 28, 2007
i live in italy. I download like crazy. I justify it because w/o torrents I would have missed %90 of the films that were released (even internationally) in the past 3 years. And the %10 that do come here (usually 4-5 months later) are with awful translations overdubbed so you miss a whole dimension of the movie anyway. Am I going to see the italian dubbed Borat when it comes out in March? Hell no. The placards at the cinema don't even translate the title correctly: it's grammatically correct!
arbguy1Jan 28, 2007
writing numbers on a hard drive IS NOT STEALING!! so you should stop using that stupid shoplifting example, since it is a false analogy. stealing would correspond to kidnapping the artists, and having them play music for you only.
cglassJan 28, 2007
They have candy and movie night there :D
linuxpenguinFeb 9, 2007
Because it IS legal in the US - you can download whatever you want, you're just not allowed to upload it.
Closed AccountFeb 2, 2008
+ All the fashion designers that come from Italy....Gucci, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana,