As Rafe would say: "SwitchBlade's been reading news on other websites and gone off on one again." This time an article at The Register indicates the final straw...
That lovingly anti-social country called America is at it again (I don't mean the people I know quite a few lovely Americans, it's the poor peoples greedy government, as usual, and the powers behind it). In this article at The Register: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/26718.html (the be all and end all of IT news) it shows how the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of AMERICA (my emphasis)) has decided what websites the rest of the world can look at and is getting the American Department of Justice to shut down any websites they don't like. Yes, rather than "protect" their own people from this evil influence, they want to ruin the internet for every other person in the world too.
MONEY
This is what it's all about, Money, with a capital M, the companies can see fictitious dissappearing $ signs in their bank accounts. Yes it seems that "everyone" is downloading songs in the "CD quality" MP3 format. Obviously these people are either tone deaf or know nothing (more likely a case of both). Point 1 is that MP3s are nowhere near CD quality and even further from the quality of a vinyl or audio cassette. Point 2 is that probably only a quarter of "computer literate" people know how to download an MP3 and what it is and the rest of the world haven't a clue. Point 3 is that the same people who are downloading MP3s are the same people who have shelves full of tapes which are copies of albums that their friends have, no-one can lose money from people who wouldn't buy the music in the first place.
Draconia
America now has some very draconian laws that take peoples freedom away and throws it in the bin. For in example in America I could now be arrested as I've taken a DVD that I own, ripped it, and re-encoded it so I can watch it on my 9210. The act I've indulged in is legal in the UK, you are entitled to make a backup copy of music/video/software for personal use (i.e. you can't lend it out or sell it), this has been made illegal by new laws in America (the DMCA). Hence they can now say that all sites hosting MP3s and videos are sharing them for "illegal purposes" even though it's only illegal in the one country.
Another good example is I've paid for a CD (Gretchen Goes To Nebraska, by King's X) and due to an unfortunate accident involving a pooly attached shelf, the CD, and many copies of Computer Shopper, the CD is now scratched to hell and back and only 1 track plays out of 13. I love all but 2 tracks on that album and down to these laws I'd have to buy a second CD rather than simply download MP3 copies of it. It can apparently seem to be "stealing" to copy my CDs to MiniDisc so I can listen to them on my walkman.
Freedom from persecution
Are we free from persecution? These laws may not apply to us, but as soon as things are in a place where the American public may be tempted to break the law then they feel they can prosecute. Therefore despite being hosted in England, the RIAA may go knocking on Patrick's door for his site n9210.co.uk hosting some sound and video clips that will cause them to "lose money". So far websites in places in Europse and Asia have been shut down by the Americans, people like Dimirti Sklyarov were arrested for making software that was legal in their own country. Just because we are in our own country and those laws don't immediately effect us doesn't mean that they won't try it in the future and you will find resources you may have relied on now dissappear later on.
The point I'm getting at is: Why should a group of people with more money than they need try to (and in some countries succeed to) change the public's rights all for the sake of filling their pockets with more money?