Pirates ahoy!!!!

Pirates once meant a menacing skull and crossbones flag, death, mayhem, raping, looting and pillaging. Of course, there was a fine, fine line between pirates and privateers...men who performed the exact same actions but under the auspices of letters granted by one nation or other. That fine line was often crossed, sometimes wittingly, other times un. Henry Morgan, Billy Kidd...their histories are constantly fought over as various scholars try to redeem or condemn one or the other, and theirs were hardly the only examples of privateers sought for execution as pirates.

Nor has the role of piracy cleared up much. For example, the record industry is once more cracking down on pirates of music...college kids. And the protestations of...well, not innocence, but still lack of guilt...are curious at best.

"Obviously I knew it was illegal, but no one got in trouble for it," Barg said.

Let me check my notes. "I am doing something illegal but it is okay because I do not personally know anyone who has gotten in trouble for it" is how I translate that...largely based on lawsuits for illegal music downloads so famous that Weird Al Yankovich wrote a song about it and named perpetrators in it (Don't Download This Song, found on Straight Outta Lynwood, 2007)

What kind of protestation of innocence is that? You know you are committing a crime but since nobody you know has been caught you should not be punished? Because the company writes you telling you the score they are "bullying" you?

Technically, I'm guilty. I just think it's ridiculous, the way they're going about it," Barg said. "We have to find a way to adjust our legal policy to take into account this new technology, and so far, they're not doing a very good job."

What other legal policy do people need? They KNOW it is illegal...they just don't care. Want proof? How about a quote from another individual who got caught;

Johnson, the UNL freshman, doesn't think the threats from the recording industry group are going to solve the problem. Friends who know he got in trouble still share music online.
"People are still going to do it until they get caught, and they can't catch everyone," Johnson said.

Not too long ago I wrote about people picking and choosing which laws they were going to obey. This is no different. We are developing a society that picks and chooses what laws apply to us as individuals and ignore the rest. It is a dangerous precedent. I foresee things getting worse. Largely because, instead of taking responsibility, people make excuses.