Kathlyn Clore

So glad to listen to this radio report: Radio France Internationale

Laws like these, working through government monitoring groups and Internet Service Providers to block users who download copyrighted material without paying for it, seem preposterous.

The laws seem to infringe on privacy rights and be impossible to enforce correctly (for myriad technical reasons).

Myself, I always waffled on the issue of “illegal” downloading - until I moved to the Netherlands.

There I realized that major news content providers, like NBC, block bits of their content outside the United States. I was unable to watch, for example, the NBC coverage of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. That’s because NBC only had the rights to broadcast the Games in the U.S. Outside the U.S.; a Dutch TV station bought the rights to show the Games inside the Netherlands.

So I was unable to watch Michael Phelps on demand, or any of the womens’ soccer matches I would have like to have seen.

The other programming I was frustrated to be locked out of was streaming re-runs of Grey’s Anatomy. ABC makes the shows available on Fridays after the program airs Thursday evening. It’s about the only television program I watch regularly.

I could, though, legally buy Grey’s Anatomy on iTunes. In fact, I’ve bought about two whole seasons.

Then I realized, halfway through 2008, that if I wanted to save space on my hard drive and put my Grey’s episodes on CD, I was only able to save the raw information - not the actual shows. Apple did not (until recently) make it possible to burn the shows on to DVD for viewing away from the computer.

If I download the shows using torrent files, though, I can burn them on to a DVD and watch them on a television.

I realized then that this “illegal” downloading was more useful than paying for programs.

Also, as a journalist it is hard to have much sympathy for the major artists who complain about the money they’re losing because of illegal downloading. Google and other major sources co-opt the work of news reporters all the time!

And, give a thought to what author Paulo Cohelo thinks about this issue. Perhaps “illegal” downloading can spur sales.

For more: Global Voices Advocacy.

Tags: downloading, DRM, France, legal, opinion

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