Before I write my post, I'd like to make something crystal clear.
This is NOT a post about whether or not downloading copyrighted material is illegal/unethical/theft/wrong. Please don't comment to that affect. If you would like to say something in that regard, please start a new topic. This is about DMCA, and how it's being used.
Over the past few years many file sharing sites have been shut down siting the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). I'm not a lawyer, and I'm pretty clueless about the law, but I do know a little bit about technology and file sharing.
The RIAA, MPAA and Federal Government, have been shutting down file sharing sites known as "torrent sites". As I understand, the way torrents work, is a client downloads a file called a tracker containing information about how many people are downloading and/or uploading the particular file(s) in question, and a hash which identifies the files. These days there is something called a magnet link, which I'm not exactly sure what it contains, but it seems to have even less. Now these torrent sites host no copyright information in themselves. In fact they aren't illegal in countries like Sweden. The US threatened
TRADE SANCTIONS(!!!) in order to force the Swedish Government to illegally raid their servers. (Maybe if countries that actively support terrorism caused Hollywood lose money, the US would sanction them to.) There is a lot more to this story (even a documentary, "Steal this film").
The point is that apparently the MPAA and RIAA lawyers are using the DMCA to shut down sites that "tell" people how to download illegally.
This would lead me to believe one of to things:
a) If I tell someone (for arguments sake, digitally, eg. via email or web post) how to download copyrighted material I am in violation of the DMCA. That seems to me that is a gross violation of my right to freedom of speech. It's not conspiracy unless there is an agreement to break the law (at least according to
wikipedia's definition)
b) The aforementioned organizations are using the law illegally to further there own agenda, even against those who aren't in violation of it.
So which is it?