Wil's Rant

I've never really understood all the hoopla over this one. The Movie Industry is currently going after those who have downloaded copyrighted material over the internet. O.K., this part I understand, that is the goal of the people who own rights to these movies and songs to protect that right. What I don't understand is going after twelve year olds, or translating that responsibility to parents, or grandparents in this case. Protect your content by all means except by going after children and/or senior citizens who can have no liability for actions that they are not aware of. My parents, for instance, don't use the internet, and know even less about it. That doesn't mean that in lawsuit happy America that the movie and recording industry won't bankrupt innocent people in pursuit of lost dollars. I agree, parents should be aware of what their kids are doing on the Net, but in practice this isn't always possible. Here's an idea, why not charge a fair price for the service? I'm talking about the fee for downloading music, or movies, over the internet. Currently they are charging the same price per song that we would pay if we were to buy the disc at the music store. What is the incentive to download from legitimate sources? I for one buy from the store every time. I would much rather have a high quality hard copy which I can do whatever I want with than to pay the same price for a digital file which can be corrupted or lost all together. So C.D.s are the way for me until the industry gets much more reasonable with the retail price of downloads. What would be even better would be for the artists to sell their product directly, bypassing the industry. This is possible on the internet. It would be better for them, better for me, better for the environment. The recording industry has failed to keep up with the times and should be left behind!