"Most parents would be horrified if they walked into a child's room and found 100 stolen CDs...However, these same parents think nothing of having their children spend time online downloading hundreds of songs without paying a dime."

John Malcolm, deputy assistant attorney general, is yet another government official who lacks the mental dexterity needed to understand the difference between the theft of a physical object and the copying of information. As long as the legal analogies bear no relationship to the physical realities, consumers and the media interests will continue to talk past eachother on matters like this.

Information is not a scarce resource. Stealing a CD is NOT the same as copying a file. If you have a CD and I take it from you, you no longer have that CD. Your wealth is diminished. I have HURT you. If you have a file and I copy that file, you still have the file. Your wealth is NOT diminished. I have not hurt you. You might argue that I should have paid you for it, and therefore I have reduced your POTENTIAL wealth, but to equate the two is to over-simplify things in a way that is not constructive to understanding. It is a typical move by those who wish to impose the value system of the industrial age upon the information age with no consideration for the new realities the information age presents.

DOJ to swappers: Law's not on your side - Tech News - CNET.com