Thought this was interesting, you can read more here...

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?no_d ... 25/1952222

I'll leave it to smarter people to translate what this means

"A federal judge in Connecticut has rejected the RIAA's 'making available' theory, which is the basis of all of the RIAA's peer to peer file sharing cases. In Atlantic v. Brennan, in a 9-page opinion [PDF], Judge Janet Bond Arterton held that the RIAA needs to prove 'actual distribution of copies', and cannot rely — as it was permitted to do in Capitol v. Thomas — upon the mere fact that there are song files on the defendant's computer and that they were 'available'. This is the same issue that has been the subject of extensive briefing in two contested cases in New York, Elektra v. Barker and Warner v. Cassin. Judge Arterton also held that the defendant had other possible defenses, such as the unconstitutionality of the RIAA's damages theory and possible copyright misuse flowing from the record companies' anticompetitive behavior."

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You can't be prosecuted simply for having MP3s on your computer...mainly because there is no way to prove if you actually bought the album at one time or another and then put the songs on your computer yourself. You may have legally paid to DL the songs from ITunes or something as well.

Its kinda like the legal loophole with underage drinking. If your pulled over and there is a bottle of sealed liqour in your trunk, and your under 21, all that can legally be done is the cops can take it. They can't arrest you for posession because, as unlikely as it is, they can't prove that the liqour is yours. Its possible the your dad or older brother could have bought the booze for themselves and happened to forget it in the trunk.

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I don't know the laws in Illinois and now that I'm over 21 I don't care much, but it turns out in Indiana that is in fact a crime.

http://www.nowpublic.com/nation-s-no-1-recruit-jimmy-clausen-cited-transporting-alcohol

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I guess i should have prefaced. It may be a law now, but I was actually taught that in my drivers ed class in high school. "Not that I advocate this folks, but if you ever have beer in your car make sure its in the trunk."

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It's more than that, from what I can tell. It's like if you have Soulseek, and the song is in your library, available for others to download. The RIAA wants that -making the song available for others to download- to constitute a crime.

The government said fuck that; show me that they actually committed the "crime."

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You can't see me because of internet.

The landowner effectively owns part shares in millions of part-time slaves called, "taxpayers." -Roy L
A Personal Relationship with Jesus?

I still do that, especially if I am transporting an incomplete sixpack or something along those lines. I never drink+drive, but on the chance that I'm somewhere that I'd like to take my beers home with me (this happened just Friday night, when I purchased a sixer of Bass Pale Ale bottles by a friend's place and our plans went to shit) I'd rather have them in the trunk than in the backseat.