AT&T's Version of Six Strikes Launches November 28

If it's copyrighted, pay for it and download it from a legitimate source such as iTunes or Netflix.

Illegal downloading is a high tech form of shoplifting as it is similar to shoplifting a CD or DVD at Best Buy or Target. Downloading illegally is basically theft in my book.

Listen to or watch something else??

Most people who pirate stuff would not be buying the content legitimately to begin with.

Can anybody cite studies on this, demonstrating that one, or the other is true?

I may never intend on paying $8 to see a movie at the local theater. So the theater isn't losing a sale by me sneaking in.

You're missing my point. My reluctance to pay doesn't not give me a right to that content.

I just recently downloaded an album to see if it was any good, few days later I paid for a lesser quality version of what I downloaded. /shrug

I like the way you think... The chances of me ever buying a Ferrari are about zero. That should make it ok for me to steal one. At least they get the advertising from me driving it around. I didn't hurt their sales since I wasn't buying in the first place.

If I get my friends permission to take apart his Ferrari and copy every piece in my workshop, then I put my parts together to make an exact replica of his car, have I somehow STOLEN something? Did my friend (or Ferrari) lose one of their cars? No. You could certainly argue that Ferrari lost the possibility of selling me one of theirs but is that theft? People make copies of products for their own personal use all the time and no one ever thinks it is stealing. It isn't until they start to sell them that they are going to run into morally questionable territory.

Didn't you steal this idea from Johnny Cash?

The way he presented the analogy is wrong (and crap) but if you fix it, it makes more sense...

If I get my friends permission to take apart his Ferrari and copy every piece in my workshop, then I put my parts together to make an exact replica of his car, have I somehow STOLEN something? Did my friend (or Ferrari) lose one of their cars? No. You could certainly argue that Ferrari lost the possibility of selling me one of theirs but is that theft? People make copies of products for their own personal use all the time and no one ever thinks it is stealing. It isn't until they start to sell them that they are going to run into morally questionable territory.

The entire concept of 'You stole my intellectual property because you are using it for your own personal use without paying me' is utterly ridiculous. I fully suspect that RIAA/MPAA/Wiley will soon start demanding that libraries charge patrons for the use of the material and send them the money... after all, no one could argue that libraries don't also cost them lost sales.

So...your example is analagous to borrowing your friends music recording, listening to it and performing each part yourself (or hiring professional musicians to do it), recording it, mastering it and producing it, then making a copy of your recording for your personal use and nothing else. Don't really see any problem with that as you're returning the original without keeping a duplicate for your personal use. As that would be copyright infringement which is illegal assuming it's a copyrighted recording.
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Of course it's not "theft" or "stealing".

I compared you actually manufacturing the Ferrari in your garage to "manufacturing" music meaning actually performing and recording the music. It would be almost the same, but not identical, just like your Ferrari example. A more accurate analogy, but altogether different than a bit by bit idenical copy.

So now the questions become: If I scan my friend's Ferrari and 'create' another one, have I stolen anything? What if I create 20 Ferraris and give them to my friends? What if I run off a few dozen and open up a lot to sell them? If you want to insist that I am stealing something, please tell me exactly what it is I am stealing.

I like the way you think... The chances of me ever buying a Ferrari are about zero. That should make it ok for me to steal one. At least they get the advertising from me driving it around. I didn't hurt their sales since I wasn't buying in the first place.

Oh ya?... Taken from this exact site.... Totally destroys your argument.

»thenextweb.com/media/2012/10/15/···erparts/

Meanwhile people want this stuff for a reason. If you are enjoying it, you should pay for it, support the artists, actors and companies that are putting it together.

and that's exactly how it feel towards the RIAA/MPAA

Illegal downloading is a high tech form of shoplifting as it is similar to shoplifting a CD or DVD at Best Buy or Target. Downloading illegally is basically theft in my book.

If it's copyrighted, pay for it and download it from a legitimate source such as iTunes or Netflix.

Illegal downloading is a high tech form of shoplifting as it is similar to shoplifting a CD or DVD at Best Buy or Target. Downloading illegally is basically theft in my book.

I pay for cable, so how is it theft if I download copies of network TV shows?

It all has to do with licensing. Networks pay broadcasting fees to shows. Your cable company pays a carry fee to the networks and you pay your cable company, so you are in effect paying a broadcast fee. That's different than a download fee since the licensing is different, which is why some downloadable programs (like SNL) have sketches missing.

So it's actually breaking a licensing contract, which while not theft, is illegal.

It's the same content that I can watch over the air for free...

Illegal downloading is a high tech form of shoplifting as it is similar to shoplifting a CD or DVD at Best Buy or Target. Downloading illegally is basically theft in my book.

If it's copyrighted, pay for it and download it from a legitimate source such as iTunes or Netflix.

I'd be interested in seeing a study of how many people that illegally down are also on some for of government assistance compared to the rest of the population.

If it's copyrighted, pay for it and download it from a legitimate source such as iTunes or Netflix.

Illegal downloading is a high tech form of shoplifting as it is similar to shoplifting a CD or DVD at Best Buy or Target. Downloading illegally is basically theft in my book.

I've said it before: why do we accept the word of any interested party when it comes to who is infringing? We wouldn't believe them if they claimed to spin straw into gold so why would we take a list of IPs based on their word?

You can't supply the court a list of license plate numbers and say "All these cars were speeding this morning. Cite the owners!"

Does my browsing activity get redirected or does my whole internet connection get redirected?

It would really suck for AT&T if they purposely redirected VOIP traffic and someone couldn't call 911 in an emergency.

You have to be careful here. There is nothing preventing the VPN providers from providing logs to said enforcement squads. So if your VPN provider has a US POP, expect them to cave upon subpoena. And a lot of these guys SAY they have no logs, and Swiss based ones are not safe.