On Mon, 8 Dec 2003, Tim May wrote:
It happened in one of the "movies" groups (rec.arts.current-movies), when the thread was on DVD copy protection and the (claimed) illegality of making DVDs of movies.
I explained how I was cheerfully making an average of a DVD a day of my favorite current movies.
A couple of "nyms" went ballistic and foamed that they had forwarded my "admissions" to the RIAA and how I would face civil penalties and jail time, oh my!
Then one of them claimed he had arranged to have my account yanked, for "violation of the DMCA." He claimed he had sent copies of my "criminal" admissions to Got.net, to the RIAA, to "law enforcement" (shudder!), and so on.
I gather that the denizens of alt.video.dvd have yet to read the Betamax case. Perhaps they should expand their reading before they opine on the state of IP law. This is one of several times that the readers of Tim's posts have reported him to the authorities. I recall the Santa Cruz sherrif's office call of the early '90s occaisioned by a simple admission that Tim legally posessed weapons at home. I'm constantly amazed by the things that people think are illegal that aren't. Reporting people to the authorities is such an impolite thing to do. In a less enlightened era it would have led to an unfortunate breach of the peace. If you have a problem with someone's behavior speak to him nicely, first. And make damned sure that he's doing something wrong before you complain. Remember -- "Since Sodomy is a Virtue, can anything be a Vice?" DCF