Is it right for a blogger to provide a resource for things that are presumably not meant to be shared on the internet like music, TV shows, movies, e-books that are for sale, usernames and passwords for sites that are behind paywalls and more such related things.
I'm asking myself, and you, this because as I was making a list for one of the above such resources it struck me. Wait a minute! Will my readers think I am some kind of pirate? Is it OK to provide links to sites that have content which is under heavy debate for copyright infringement. Where should one draw the line?
I mean after all it's not me that is uploading all this stuff across hundreds of websites across the world, and neither is it you. So should I feel guilty for linking to them? Should you feel guilty for watching, listening, reading or viewing such content?
It's funny because until a few years ago the concept of sharing movies, music, books, the morning newspaper and even your lunch with friends was something that was as common as daylight. Not too mention that your friend didn't mind if you recorded a copy of your movie, or of the latest music album you bought, or even if your friends entire family read your book.
But today, all of a sudden, there is a spook factor to the word file sharing. When in fact it's been going on in the real world for decades. It's not like movie studios, record labels, book publishers, newspapers have been losing money over lost rentals, album sales etc...since the internet began. The concept of content being shared has been around since the very first publication, so in effect content creators have been losing money since that day.
Should I be scared of being labeled as a pirate or worse - a criminal, if I link to a few sites that have content which some people say is not meant to be shared in that way?
Personally, I respect the effort that people put in their creative work to make a living off of it. I'm in the creative field myself. I design websites and code them as well. But I don't care if someone uses my work to build their own framework for a website, or copies my entire CSS file to make their life easier. I'm not physically or monetarily hurt by it, because majority of the people don't know how to make websites. Even if they did learn how to do it, sooner or later I would end up with them as my clients simply because I would do it better than them. Same thing for movies and music, if I don't like the copy that I made from my friend I'm going to go out and buy myself an original, because it's better.
Times have definitely changed since the last time I borrowed a movie from my friend. Then I wasn't scared to do so, but today if he sends me a clip over the internet is it possible any of us could get prosecuted for it?
So you guys still want to see that "questionable" list I was making?
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I’m pretty sure that you could not be held responsible for linking to other sites that show illegal content. In fact depending on how you state it you might be seen as a do-gooder, pointing out places where “bad” people are stealing from the man. Instead of posting the list in a good light, post it as a “Do Not Go” list. We’ll all know what it is and those who want to take the risk will at least be aware of it.
@mercutiom, yea you could be held responsible for linking to a site that has illegal content. There have been many cases where people were sued for doing just that. There is even a DVD ripping utility that doesn’t host its own program and doesn’t link to where you can download it. Instead it explains what the software is and if you click on the download page link it gives you a google search box to find a download for it.