MissWalshy wrote:hmmm letters from Lawyers?
Hmmm..
why is it that other forums of say "muscians" have threads/topics dedicated to bootlegs?
hmmm...
<i>Medusa</i> has a forum dedicated to the discussion of bootlegs too. Just not the swap/sale/exchange of them. That doesn't answer your question though.
I (and my server) are physically located in the United States of America, a country with somewhat firm intellectual property laws. We also have industry associations that make it their role to enforce those laws and levy fines against violators (these are the same organizations that have been suing Napster/eDonkey/BitTorrent users and web sites). It has also been established in the USA that the provider of a service (me) can sometimes be held responsible for the actions of the users of that service (you).
I am not willing to risk being sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) so that you can have free or unauthorized music. As long as The Pogues' CDs have that tiny text on them that says:
<blockquote>WARNING: Unauthorized reproduction of this recording is prohibited by federal law and subject to criminal prosecution.</blockquote>
or
<blockquote>Unauthorized copying, hiring, lending, public performance, and broadcasting of this recording prohibited.</blockquote>
or concert promoters have a "no recording devices" policy, I won't tolerate discussions or links that fall into these catagories:
<ul>
<li>Direct links to unauthorized reproductions of music (e.g. a link from <i>Medusa</i> -> foobar.mp3, but I have no problem with a link from <i>Medusa</i> -> another site -> foobar.mp3)
<li>Direct coordination of exchange of materials (sale, trade, gift, whatever). There will be no "Dude! I'll totally swap you for that show!" There are millions of non-public-and-doesn't-get-DzM-sued ways to contact eachother on the Internet that don't put me at risk of being an accessory.
</ul>
So on other web sites, where there <i>are</i> fora dedicated to the sale and exchange of bootlegs, the web site owner/administrator has elected to assume the risk of being an accessory (most likely); or the record label or promoters have a tolerant policy toward recording and distributing live shows (or in some cases the studio material as well); or the band has more direct ownership of their creative works and are able to set the policy themselves AND embrace their fans desire to have a permanent audible record of the performance (in fact many bands now record shows at the soundboard and by the time the encore finishes are burning CDRs for sale at $20 in the lobby).
At this time WEA, The Pogues, and their promoters have not made any public statement about the music or performances being free for duplication, so the policy of this site is to not condemn or condone the action, nor to directly take part in it.
“I know all those people that were in the film [...] But that’s when they were young and strong and full of life, you know?”
