[thelist] The Spam Argument

[Joshua Olson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "bruce" <bedouglas at earthlink.net>
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2003 12:28 PM


> Hate to disagree with you regarding the music issue...
>
> The creation of file sharing software has many legal uses. For the most
> part, the creators of the apps have said here.. the app works this way..
use
> it for whatever you want. the people who have set up the apps, have
decided
> what they want to put up for sharing.. and that's where the illegal action
> occurs....
>
> why would you arrest someone for creating something that's legal to
have...
> it's the usage/implementation in a certain manner that's illegal... and
this
> is due to the content that's being traded....

bruce,

The last file sharing app I installed included a way to search by
artist/song name.  It seems, and I cannot prove this, that it may have even
done some sort of fuzzy searching for common misspellings (I'd sometimes
spell the name right and get black names that were close in spelling).   In
the context of sharing music, does that not seem like it's aiding and
abetting the criminal activity?  If so, is the software creator not
commiting a crime in the process of providing the software?

<><><><><><><><><><>
Joshua Olson
Web Application Engineer
WAE Tech Inc.
http://www.waetech.com
706.210.0168