copyright infringement vs shoplifting

I wrote this as response to a comment on Lindi’s blog about “copywrite infringement” and thought I would share it.

First, a pet peeve. It’s copyright infringement. It refers to the right — a bunch of rights, really — the rights to translate, reproduce, publicly perform, adapt (create a derivative work), be identified as the author of the work and preserve the integrity of the work. It varies from country to country, and sometimes restricts the right to rent, transmit works digitally or display works publicly.

Many activities which would constitute infringement in one context are perfectly legal in another. This is known as fair use (USA) or fair dealing (Canada).

As for punishment
If you shoplift 20 DVDs, you will be charged with theft under $5000. For this, in Canada, you can be fined $2000 or sentenced to up to six months in jail. (If they call it an indictable offense instead of a summary offense, you could get up to two years, but that is rare. §334)

If you download 20 DVDs from the Internet, you can be charged with copyright infringement. The plaintiff/crown don’t have to prove actual damages. They can collect statutory damages of $500 to $20,000. Per DVD. (§38.1)

So, let me sum that up:
– shoplift 20 DVDs. maximum fine in Canada: $2000.
– download 20 DVDs. maximum fine in Canada: $400,000

The good part
The CD example is even more fun. In the USA, if you download a single CD, which is not legal, you are liable for infringement. But not just once — each track has its own copyright. So you’re liable for infringement, say, 10 times over.

But it gets better.

Each song has two copyrights: the copyright in the song itself (words and music), which typically belongs to the songwriter. And the copyright in the sound recording itself (which typically belongs to the label). So you’re now responsible for 20 counts of copyright infringement.

If they can prove you wilfully infringed this (not hard), than you are liable for statutory damages of up $150,000 per instance. (§504 (c)(2)) So downloading a CD could leave you liable for $3 million. (Stealing the CD from a store, on the other hand leaves you liable for $1000 (California §490).)

iTunes 5 from the perspective of anthropomorphized brushed metal

Daring Fireball: The iTunes 5 Announcement From the Perspective of an Anthropomorphized Brushed Metal User Interface Theme:

Brushed Metal: I’m the bad-ass theme. I’m the one who flouts the Human Interface Guidelines.

Mike: This guy trashes the HIG the way Johnny Depp trashes a hotel room. He even sports a custom radius on his window corners. No other window on the system has a shape like this. It’s wild. Just wait until the HIG zealots get a load of this guy.

gladwell: health care is broken

Malcolm Gladwell, writing in The New Yorker: The Moral-Hazard Myth: The bad idea behind our failed health-care system:

The U. S. health-care system, according to “Uninsured in America,” has created a group of people who increasingly look different from others and suffer in ways that others do not. The leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the United States is unpaid medical bills. Half of the uninsured owe money to hospitals, and a third are being pursued by collection agencies. Children without health insurance are less likely to receive medical attention for serious injuries, for recurrent ear infections, or for asthma. Lung-cancer patients without insurance are less likely to receive surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation treatment. Heart-attack victims without health insurance are less likely to receive angioplasty. People with pneumonia who don’t have health insurance are less likely to receive X rays or consultations. The death rate in any given year for someone without health insurance is twenty-five per cent higher than for someone with insur-ance. Because the uninsured are sicker than the rest of us, they can’t get better jobs, and because they can’t get better jobs they can’t afford health insurance, and because they can’t afford health insurance they get even sicker.

bush’s visit completely stages, aid left with him

The Washington Monthly:

There was a striking dicrepancy between the CNN International report on the Bush visit to the New Orleans disaster zone, yesterday, and reports of the same event by German TV.

ZDF News reported that the president’s visit was a completely staged event. Their crew witnessed how the open air food distribution point Bush visited in front of the cameras was torn down immediately after the president and the herd of ‘news people’ had left and that others which were allegedly being set up were abandoned at the same time.

The people in the area were once again left to fend for themselves, said ZDF.