What do you think of the revision to the Copyright Law that will make it a criminal offense to download pirated music and video files?

I think if you go to the story "Japan to make illegal downloading of music, videos punishable with jail terms" you'll find what 160+ posters think to the above question.

Think Japan will need a lot bigger prison and the budget to run it.

I think that the authorities have much more important things that they should be arresting people for.

Also, I think it is appalling that:

"Japan to make illegal downloading of music, videos punishable with jail terms"

How are they going to know if someones downloaded something? Are they going to check everyones hard-drive and access logs?

Waste of time and money.

Kind of ironic from the country that made it's fortune from pirating Western technology... just making it smaller and slightly more user-friendly...

...but a criminal offense is ridiculous, it should just be a civil offense.

Hollywood, RIAJ and the rest are just greedy, and many have written that having heard or seen a poor quality downloaded video or song, they go on to buy the original full quality version. Pirated copies are one of the best marketing and promotional tools that the industry has!

I can't understand why downloading would be a criminal offense whilst taping music from the radio is legal or taping videos from TV. They might just ban the internet in Japan.

Hypocritical.

Investigate JASRAC, if you want to know more about robbery.

I think I better get downloading before it is signed into law!

I think I better get downloading before it is signed into law!

Yep, then you'd be in possession and ready to be arrested.

I think it's 100% BS and that the 'authorities' in Japan have much more dire issues to be focused on and spending tax-payer money towards.

This will go the way other laws have gone. Does yellow at a stop mean slow down here? Nope ... speed up. Does a red light mean stop? Nope ... go like hell. Do the no-smoking signs on the sidewalks here in Tokyo stop smoking? If so, where do all those cigarette butts come from? Do bicyclists follow traffic laws? That's a joke. Could go on and on. But you get the idea: Downloading might be illegal ... but everybody's going to do it anyhow 'cause that's how the law is treated around here.

I can think of a couple of points with this. The first one is maybe if Japan catered a bit more in their tv programing for foreigners then those foreigners wouldnt need to illegally download shows to watch. Secondly if movie and music producers where not such greedy money grubbing types and actually embraced technology a bit more then maybe they could reduce the amount of people who copy or download their products. Finally if l happen to purchase an item it becomes mine to do as l please with it, if l want to back it up to a HDD or give a copy to a friend then its mine to do it with. Do authors and booksellers carry on about people buying their books and giving them away when they have been read? No. If l fork out $30 for a music cd then l own that cd and what l do with it is up to me. If the music companies want it different then maybe another alternative is that they embed anti piracy software into the cd as they do with some other products.

Finally all l can say is lm glad this law is not coming into affect for a couple more months as it wont affect me one bit then.

A downloader of copyrighted material is guilty of theft if they did not pay the producer of the copyrighted material in any way (through purchase fees, royalty fees, etc.) for the download. The "Children of the Internet" have become so used to getting everything for FREE that they have completely lost the concept of paying fair market value for someone else's hard work.

I think it's 100% BS and that the 'authorities' in Japan have much more dire issues to be focused on and spending tax-payer money towards.

Yeah, and speeders say THE EXACT SAME THING when they're caught speeding. The general mentality these days is that as long as nobody was physically hurt, the cops shouldn't be enforcing laws... ESPECIALLY when the lawbreakers are the ones being caught. The Yakuza LOVE you people! They're all in their offices cheering you on with a "GANBATTE!"

Well said, Fadamor.

I do, however, think this law goes too far in terms of what's illegal. If I watch a video on YouTube that was put there illegally, that really shouldn't be a problem. If I download and save that video, that's a different story.

Back in the 1970s, I used to buy record albums for about $4. Now, I can buy CDs for about $15. If I want to buy individual songs on iTunes, that's about $0.99. I don't think any of this is too expensive, not that the price should matter. If you think something is too expensive, don't buy it. Don't steal it, either.

Mod, I ask for a bit of latitude on this next point -- it's related, if you'll bear with me.

2 weeks ago, I was fortunate to see Roger Waters and his band performing The Wall here in the States. The staging, production and music were incredible. It was probably the most awe-inspiring concert I've ever seen. At one point late in the show, I realized that this sort of spectacle is something we won't be seeing any more. There are no huge bands anymore, certainly no one more recent than U2. Now that bands aren't making money from selling their recordings, they have to rely on concerts and merchandise to make a living. That means no more over-the-top productions like The Wall. Sure, this isn't necessary for all bands - I saw the Ramones a lot back in the day, and they didn't need anything more than a bare stage. There aren't many bands going with big concepts anymore. I guess you could point to Green Day and American Idiot, but that's a musical play on Broadway, not a touring concert put on by the actual band.

I'm not going to try to blame all of this on illegal downloading, but we can't ignore its impact, either. If you find an artist or a band that inspires you, spend the money. Make it worth their while. If you don't, they'll be gone like last month's special flavor of Kit-Kats.

One of the reasons foreigners do this is because of the Region System on DVDs. DVDs legally bought in England won't work here!

What problem is that trying to solve?

You know, may be the positive solution to all this is that we go back to making our own entertainment. Tell stories, play music, dance, put on plays and dramas.

It can be a lot of fun!

@ Fadamor, Yeah. Okay.

So how do we fight this thing?