I recently received this very interesting question from one of my readers in relation to my post “bit(ter)(torrent) fight to the end“. Before I post my thoughts, I thought to put it out to my readers for some comment first:

“

Your recent article bit(ter)(torrent) fight to the end as well as the current lawsuit against The Pirate Bay, set me thinking, are there any circumstances where it would be acceptable to use bit torrent to download copyrighted material?

Let’s look at some scenarios:

a. I bought an LP record / tape in the seventies and still have it. My record player is broken and cannot play the record – the copyrighted material. Surely I have paid for the right to listen to the music and could download an mp3 version to listen to?

b. I buy a DRM protected CD so I can’t copy the music onto my i-pod. Can I download an unprotected version to play it on my i-pod?

c. I buy a CD and damage the disk so that it will not play. Can I download a copy to replace the damaged version?

If the answer is that in these situations it would be legally acceptable to download a copy of a song or movie via bit torrent then surely it is acceptable to upload the torrent, i.e. make the songs or movies available for upload, subject to a declaration by the downloader that they already possess the copyrighted material and the download is simply to make good the original material?

Considering the huge usage of bit torrents, surely of interest to a significant portion of our internet community.

regards

J###

“


So, readers, what does your gut feel say about this?

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