| It is completely understandable that artists resent their | | | | be like trying to blame Ford for making the getaway |
| intellectual property being pirated. As it is, the majority | | | | car used in a bank robbery. Technology is agnostic; |
| of the money made from their music goes to | | | | how individuals use that technology is not the |
| publishers, record labels, agents and/or managers, | | | | responsibility of Google or any other search engine. |
| leaving the performers with a small piece of the pie. | | | | That is true of any technology that has other valid |
| So when pirates chip away at their earnings even | | | | uses. |
| more, frustration can boil over to anger. | | | | This was the heart of the issue when Sony sued |
| But artists need to take a strong lesson from Carol | | | | Betamax, claiming video tape machines were being |
| Kaye: know your rights before you throw your legal | | | | used to illegally copy shows and movies that were |
| weight around. Kaye, who turns 75 on March 24, is a | | | | broadcast on television. The Supreme Court rules in |
| legendary studio musician and was one of the few | | | | favor of Betamax and part of the ruling centered on |
| professional female bass guitar players of her | | | | the fact the VCR's had legitimate uses that |
| generation. She has taught guitar for fifty years and | | | | superseded any illegal activities engaged by individuals. |
| has written several books on how to play the guitar. | | | | The same logic applies to copier machines. |
| When Kaye discovered that some of her sheet music | | | | But Kaye didn't stop there. She went after a blog site |
| and courses are available on various torrent sites. | | | | that covers torrent news and accused it of |
| There is no shame in not knowing the infrastructure | | | | infringement, apparently believing that writing about |
| hierarchy of the Internet or understanding how | | | | torrent sites was equivalent to offering illegal files for |
| copyright applies to this new medium. What's not | | | | download. And she followed up that belief with a |
| excusable is remaining ignorant and waging a | | | | torrent of her own – a diatribe against the blog site. |
| misguided fight against digital piracy. While there can be | | | | The unfortunate aspect is, instead of drawing attention |
| little argument that piracy of copyrighted material is | | | | to the real problem of piracy, Ms. Kaye has herself |
| both illegal and immoral, you cannot blame technology. | | | | become the focus, and not in a good way. So before |
| At one point, Kaye announced that she had filed a | | | | any artist starts tossing legal threats, they need to |
| complaint against Google with the Federal Trade | | | | make sure the go after the actual infringers and refrain |
| Commission for allowing illegal downloads. That would | | | | from shooting the messengers or innocent bystanders. |
