Kazaa Owners Risk Jail 221
An anonymous reader writes "There's been a twist in the Sharman Networks vs record labels case in Australia. Lawyers for the music industry now claim that Sharman's attempt to block Australian IP addresses from accessing the Kazaa website doesn't comply with a court order. As such, they want Kazaa masterminds Nikki Hemming and Kevin Bermeister to go to jail term. The saga began in Feb 2004 and ZDNet Australia has a complete timeline."
What? (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, they want no such thing.
From the article:
Counsel for the record industry, Tony Bannon, said his side "didn't want" an imprisonment outcome, but argued that Sharman had failed to comply with the order.
Re:It's their own fault (Score:2, Informative)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penal_colony [wikipedia.org]
The British used North America as a Penal Colony through the system of indentured servants. Convicts would be transported by private sector merchants and auctioned off to plantation owners upon arrival in the colonies. It is estimated that some 50,000 British convicts were banished to colonial America, representing perhaps one-quarter of all British emigrants during the eighteenth century. When that avenue closed in the 1780s after the American Revolution, Britain began using parts of modern day Australia as Penal Colonies. Some of these early colonies were Norfolk Island (which became the flogging hell meant to deter even the most hardened criminals- see cat o' nine tails), Van Diemen's Land and New South Wales. Advocates of Irish Home Rule or of Trade Unionism (the Tolpuddle Martyrs) often received sentences of transportation (the harsh regime started during the long shipping) to these Australian colonies.
also
http://www.eurekatimes.net/1788-1868.htm [eurekatimes.net]
The Penal Colony of New South Wales stands even today as one of the darkest episodes in English Imperial History. Yet in the way they ran that military camp, a set of remarkably strong social institutions were born. These institutions continue to provide a bulwark of strength that has underpinned the growth and stability of our modern Australia society even to this very day. In this index we record the birth of those great Australian Institutions together with some other interest notes on that period.
Translated for those who didn't RTFA (Score:5, Informative)
Sharman is being accused of contempt. Contempt because they may not have complied with a court order. This case appears to be going to trial. If found in contempt, they could face jail time.
This isn't about copyright anymore. The last judgement against them was about copyright. This is about violating federal law. If they are found to not have complied with a court order, they are in violation of federal law, which is grounds for jail time.
Breaking federal law is not good, and getting caught is worse. Sharman did this to themselves.
Re:Time paradox? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:No light at the end of the tunnel (Score:3, Informative)
I read an article once that had an interview with a former Napster exec (I don't remember who) on why the RIAA settled with them. It was near the end, and it was obvious that they were going to lose, and they started talking with the recording industry. They pointed out that, hey, there's this new client out there called Gnutella, and guess what - it doesn't have a central server to take down. The RIAA people seemed completely unaware of this, and hadn't even thought about how to deal with such a situation; that's what prompted them to decide to start going after new digital media outlets after ignoring them for so long.
Re:It's their own fault (Score:4, Informative)
I'm sorry, I don't think society should be expected to pay thousands of dollars for a $10 CD that they could care less about. Jailing digital pirates amounts to shifting the burden from the theif to society. Such crimes need to be handled with fines and penalties, not jailtime. On top of that, any penalties collected from thiefs should first go to cover the costs of the legal system, including all involved (Judges, jurors, bailiffs, assistants, power, heating, etc).
Notice I'm not making a statement on if Kazaa and digital piracy is right or wrong. I just think that jail time is an unfair burden on the rest of us (since we have to pay for it), and that compensation should first go to the system that is persecuting. It isn't free to run a legal system, you know.