[Novalug] Over the Top

Tux subscriber Dave Aronson tux2dave@davearonson.com
Thu Aug 2 13:31:54 EDT 2007


Jason [mailto:novalug@jasons.us] writes:

 > the girl had to know that recording any part of a movie is wrong.

No.  She might reasonably be expected to know that recording any part of a movie is *illegal*.  Whether it is "wrong" is very much disputed.

Do not conflate what is right/wrong, honest/dishonest, moral/immoral, legal/illegal, or ethical/unethical.  (I've probably left out a few other applicable terms too.)  These are all very different things, especially in a free country.

 > What ever happened to personal responsibility?

One of the very reasons for its decline is the attempt to legislate what is right/wrong, honest/dishonest, moral/immoral, and/or ethical/unethical!

IMHO a much better way to handle this would have been:

 - Girl gets caught by theater
 - Theater ejects girl and reports incident up chain to movie company,
   presumably in accord with their contract
 - Movie company decides whether or not to sue over copyright infringement
 - Movie company gives girl a lecture... and, at a press conference, two tix
   (one for her bro, one for her so she can see the rest of the movie) to
   prove they're not such a bunch of evil hard-asses, BUT warning that this
   will NOT be the result for ALL other people caught (so as to prevent
   copycats just trying to get free tix)
 - Note that CRIMINAL court NEVER enters into it, nor any other public
   institution definitely, only the POSSIBILITY of CIVIL court!

-Dave

-- 
Dave Aronson
"Specialization is for insects."  -Heinlein
Work: http://www.davearonson.com/
Play: http://www.davearonson.net/





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