Bjorn Vang Jensen wrote:

> - According to the Business Software Alliance, the software piracy rate in
> the US as a whole currently stands at 22.8%, resulting in what the BSA
> estimates is a loss of $ 6,188,999,000 per year to the industry.

Nice research.  That would be Business Software, right?  What does that have
to do with music piracy?

> Florida, incidentally, which I understand to be home to some of the finest
law
> enforcers in the land, beats the national average handily, with a whole
> 30.1%. The full study, including state-by-state figures, can be downloaded
> from http://global.bsa.org/statestudy/

An how do you suppose these fine folks determined this?  You don't suppose
they might be just a little biased do you?

> - FindLaw.com, when searched for the keywords "intellectual property"
> returns 99,900 sites in the US. I wonder if all these lawyers are working
on
> China, or whether IP violations might also be a small issue in the US ?

Perhaps they are working on enforcing the law.  As I recall, that was my
recommendation.  I also seem to recall you had a problem with that.  Changed
your mind or is it only when it's in somebody else's back yard.  Maybe that
enforcement is why the ratio in the U.S. is so much lower than that in
China, you think?

> - According to USA Today, 61 million Americans regularly engage in P2P
> downloading, with only 9% thinking they are doing anything wrong. Read the
> full article at
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2003-03-28-downloads_x.htm

That's because the fair use laws have been through the courts over, and over
and over since the first tape recorders came out.  In every case so far,
those that recorded music provided by others were determined to be within
the fair use laws.  Perhaps they thought they weren't doing anything wrong
because they weren't doing anything wrong.

> - Staying with that topic a little while longer, on April 28th this year,
> one Lee Bell wrote to this list (in response to an e-mail from me), "Don't
I
> just know it.  I'll try the KAZAa Lite for that reason.  Gator, now known
as
> Gain, isn't quite as bad as it seemed at first.  I've found that if I let
it
> load a few screens and leave them open in background, it stops.. so far.
> Once it stops, it's a non issue until I exit Grokster."
>
> - One hopes that Mr. Bell was only trying out these P2P services in the
line
> of duty, and not in any way to circumvent the copyright laws of his
country.

No to both.  It was not in the line of duty and it was not in violation of
the laws of my country.  What a shame you didn't research far enough to know
what you are talking about.

> - But one doesn't think so, because in other posts in the thread (all of
> which can be seen at
[log in to unmask]&a=&b=" target="_blank">http://raven.utc.edu/cgi-bin/WA.EXE?S2=scuba-se&q=&s=outlook&[log in to unmask]&a=&b= )
> , Mr. Bell confessed that the problem was on "one of the machines used to
> access my private e-mail" (which one hopes he doesn't do on government
> property), and also confessed to violating his employer's rules on loading
> outside software.

Why do you hope I don't access my private e-mail on a government computer?
Do you ahve some reason to believe that's a prohibited activity?  Here's a
clue, I call my wife on the government's phones too.  That's not prohibited
either.  Send me a copy of your copy of my rules.  I'd be interested in
seeing what you have.  It clearly differs from what I have . . . or are you,
perhaps, engaging in exactly what you suggesed I was . . . mouthing off on
topics about which you haven't a clue?

> - By an amazing coincidence, someone using the same name and the same
e-mail
> address as the Mr. Bell above has lately been observed spending
considerable
> time hectoring others over the difference between right and wrong, the
> importance of enforcement, and of being a role model.

Nah.  I was wrong.  You were right.  I admitted it.  Remember?  I just
wanted to be sure that those of you who understand right and wrong so much
better than I do and, of course, the Asian culture as well, got a chance to
see the results.  If you don't like them, don't blame me.  I was the one
without compassion, remember?

> 1) I, too, live in a glass house, but I am not dumb enough to throw stones
> 2) There are two words that accurately summarize the behavior exhibited by
> you here, Lee: "Hypocrite" and "Bigot".
> 3) The above is so conclusive that I have nothing more to say in this
> thread, to you or anyone else.

You certainly threw a few in this message.  As for the rest, well, the words
Pot calling the kettle black come to mind.

Lee