Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

That's the problem, and that's what the judge laments. You say that jaywalking and stealing are pretty much the same. It's pretty scary to think that a whole generation believes that.

Jaywalking, if it ever actually appears in any city code today, was likely outlawed to protect people from themselves. I suspect the law came about back when cars were relatively uncommon and people just sort of wandered across streets knowing that a horse would generally slow down or otherwise avoid them.

Stealing (what you casually refer to as "file sharing") is just what it is - taking something that isn't yours without paying for it. Unfortunately, it seems that very few people these days have ever actually had to work very hard at anything and thus they cannot comprehend the significance of having something stolen from them.

Having said that, I too applaud the judge's refusal to overstep her bounds and trample Tenenbaum's free speech rights. I also partly fault the record industry for failing to protect their merchandise, especially when they know (or ought to know) that their target market thinks stealing stuff is "no biggie."