Cutlass Developers' Journal

Well, the Grokster ruling from the supreme court is in, and regardless of what I’d hoped, feared, or otherwise, it is what it is. We all have to live with it now. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem to change my plans for Cutlass in any major ways.

Essentially, the court ruled that if I intend for you to violate copyright with my software, I am partially liable for your copyright infringement. Now establishing that intent is somewhat sticky, and there will likely be much legal wrangling over where a court can draw that line. (Hopefully the burden of proof will lie with the plaintiff, but I’m not going to hold my breath on that one).

So, here I declare, publically, by all that I hold dear, please don’t use Cutlass for copyright infringement. Seriously. You’re pissed at the RIAA? Get your music somewhere else! I’ve had people in all honesty tell me that:
1: They were pissed that Metallica was going after Napster
2: That P2P actually helped music sales, as awareness of bands contributed to overall band revenues
3: That they were so pissed, that they were going to go download a bunch of Metallica MP3s.

Err, hello? 1 and 2 I agree with, but 3 does not follow. If you really believe that P2P helps bands (as I do), and that you’re pissed off at a band (as I have been), the solution is to go find alternatives, who actually want their music to be heard, and go download their songs, and perhaps even buy an album or see a show.

If you want to know where to go to find Free Culture, Downhill Battle has a good collection of links at the bottom of the page.