by SHANE SINNOTT

Those of you who read the Letters section might remember a reader, “Schwartzman,” who wrote a few weeks ago to complain of my views, which he paraphrases as, “Everyone is downloading stolen music, so it’s okay to do. Damn those laws.” He goes on to say, “For now, theft is theft is theft.” This is as good a time as any to clarify some stuff, and point out that Schwartzman subscribes to a misconception that is heavily encouraged by our major media conglomerates.

First off: downloading music is not illegal in Canada. It hasn’t ever been enforced, and since a ruling in 2003, it has been categorically legal. Downloading and sharing music for personal use is legal, uploading (as in torrents to bit torrent trackers) is not. This is why there has been so much hullabaloo over the introduction of the new copyright law, Bill C-61. Speaking of which, Canada’s new copyright law has not passed. It has been tabled, and it is not due for a second reading until after the summer recess. So it is a long, long way from becoming law—especially with a Conservative minority government. It’s these two misunderstandings that are clouding the copyright debate.

And more to the root of the matter, how are you stealing something when it’s purely digital? “Theft is theft is theft” works with cars or sneakers or candy bars, but digital media can be copied endlessly without defect. You’re certainly doing something when you download copyrighted music, and granted, it can feel like murky moral waters, but I don’t know if it’s stealing. You’re not taking anything away from anybody. What you’re doing, basically, is limiting (and even that is hard to prove) someone’s ability to profit from an idea they had. So maybe that is a shitty thing to do to a band, and maybe it’s a shitty thing to do to Walt Disney’s great grandson, but you’re not exactly stealing from them. I’d venture that the reason most of us “steal” music is because we simply haven’t been given a reasonable alternative. Give us a good, unlimited and DRM-free subscription service that allows sharing, and the labels will be back in business.