A matter of priorities

Ramblings / August 20, 2008 / John / 2

Bizarrely, I read in the news today that a British woman has just been fined £16,000 for putting a video game on a filesharing network. Fair enough I suppose.

The trouble is, I also read last week that a British woman received £10,000 compensation for being subjected to a particularly brutal rape.

Is the British justice system trying to tell us that unauthorised copying[0] is a more serious crime than the rape and beating of a young woman?

And before people jump in in the comments – yes, I whole-heartedly agree with the idea that the whole concept of ‘catching people’ filesharing is ridiculous. If it were possible to do so, I’d expect the police and government would be reeling in a lot more of the child pornographers they keep telling us about. Sadly, they seem more interested in middle-aged women posting copies of Quake III.

[0] Yes, that’s right – I said ‘unauthorised copying’. I did not say ‘piracy’. That’s because making an unauthorised copy of a piece of software / movie / CD can not reasonably be compared to the boarding and pillaging of a seagoing vessel resulting in the murder of all on board. Hence, it is not ‘piracy’.

John

UNIX geek, wannabe cook, musician, book-lover, and all round good-guy.