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60-SecondsThis column has been a popular read in the pages of user group newsletters for more than a dozen years. For some background, read our 100th Issue.Top Stories* Spam Traps* Safe Computing * NO Dot-Docs * Get ripped off! * Your Press Release * The Kittridge Story 
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#174.4 follow up to MGM vs. Grokster, October, 2005 Shortly after publishing 60-Second Window #174, "MGM vs. Grokster: what does it mean?" readers posted their comments, pro and con. I've chosen a select few to publish as follow-up because of the value of their views: Secondary Liability through Intent?S.J. writes: That's true about video recorders, but not about audio cassette recorders. Virtually everyone I know (including me) who bought an audio cassette recorder bought it primarily for the purpose of copying and listening to their friends' LPs. The irony is that when I bought my first audio cassette recorder in the early '80s, I had nearly stopped buying LPs because popular music had lost interest for me except for a few favorite performers. Once friends started giving me tapes of their albums, I discovered whole new worlds of music (i.e. reggae, new wave/punk, world music), and I began buying LPs again much more frequently in order to hear more of this wonderful new music I'd been turned on to. This was a common experience among my acquaintances. Thus, far from cutting into sales, taping of LPs actually increased sales of music, in my cohort at least... I'd never have bought most of the LPs I bought had I not heard the genre and artist via those tapes first. That ultimately has led to CD sales as well, since I've replaced a lot of those tapes and LPs with CDs, or in a few cases where I didn't like the whole album, with individual songs from iTunes or eMusic. Fred Replies: This post neither supports nor disputes the ISP issue, but does shed light on at least one perception of recording copyrighted music. I think it would be interesting to survey a cross-section of U.S. households to find what percentage of Videos owned are "legal" compared to "illegal." Time-shifting programs with a VCR or other video recording device is fine. However, once the video is given to a friend, does that constitute an infringement on the copyrighted property? How many of you have video tapes of movies that you did not purchase? Yet, I'm sorry now that I used that "VCR" metaphor in my original essay. It really doesn't apply to the ISP who knowingly allows phishing or other online crime to be hosted on their servers. The next reader comment brings us a totally different point of view; that of a security technician responsible for quelling online file sharing... You can comment on this or provide a different slant to the story by sending an email. Thanks for reading...
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