I ME MINE

Years ago, George Harrison sang about the disgrace of "I Me Mine." He anticipated the "me" generation, soon represented by magazines like "SELF."

At allofMP3.com, where arrogant Russian thugs take all of Western music, their defense is "WE" as in "we should do what we want, and that means taking music without permission and selling it for their own profit.

Typical Russian immorality? Look at what American bloggers are doing, and those in the U.K., Germany, Holland or South America. In these countries copyright is clearly the law, but it's "I me Mine." The bloggers feel they have a right to take somebody's newest album, not even in stores, and give it away.

The RIAA has filed suit against the Russians demanding "$150,000 for each instance of copyright infringement." Joining with the RIAA, the U.S. Government and world leaders are threatening Russia's admittance to the World Trade Organization.

This is no longer about swapping a few tunes. It's about the wreckage of companies and the destruction of lives. People are on unemployment lines or taking part-time jobs because the royalties are gone, offices are letting workers go and sales are flat.

Every selfish ninny with an I-Me-Mine attitude and a "Donate to Paypal" banner on his blog is part of the problem.

Every childish conspirator who floods a forum with complete discographies of an artist's work is part of the problem.

Every smirking fool who writes "this album is out of print therefore copyright no longer exists" is part of the problem.

In U.S. District Court's description for allofMP3.com: "notorious online black market...poster child for Internet music piracy."

Other poster children include the bloggers who post dozens of downloads a day out of their I-ME-MINE desire to have attention at all costs to other people.

NO EXCUSE

One of the best protest slogans is simple. It's used by PETA. They say "There is NO EXCUSE for wearing fur."

The downloading epidemic?

There is NO EXCUSE for the reckless downloading going on. 90% of what bloggers offer can easily be bought in a record store or on line, and cheap. Very, very little of what bloggers offer is truly so rare or so expensive, that an illegal download is a fair alternative.

One thing bloggers keep ignoring is what they do is absolutely illegal. It breaks the law.

It makes the Internet more lawless.

MOAS

If you had a chance to come to one of the world's great cities, what would you do?

If you were a member of MOAS, you'd set your alarm clock for four in the morning, grab some spray paint, and spend hours blasting a wall, bus or train with the graffiti you call your TAG.

A week later, at the cost of thousands of dollars, the paint is removed. That doesn't stop the graffiti artist.

MOAS means "Monsters of Art, Scandanavia," a collection of fools who try to outdo each other in vandalism. They call what they do "art" the same way file download thieves call what they do "sharing."

Graffiti isn't art. Especially when it's done against somebody's will and using somebody else's property.

You ask: "Why be so stupid? Why waste your time? You could be earning money with a job, having a love life, or donating your time for any of 100 charities that need volunteers."

The same can be asked of the ferociously compulsive bloggers who think there is something heroic about taking hundreds of albums they don't own and distributing the music for their own glory.

There is no excuse to paint graffiti on somebody else's property. None.

There is no excuse for stealing somebody's music and sharing it against their wishes. None.

Graffiti artists and hardcore bloggers hate it when somebody "spoils the fun."

"Fun" is covering an entire train with paint? "Fun" is putting every album an artist did on a blog so that the artist loses royalties and a record store owner can't make a legal sale?

The world can use enthusiastic people to volunteer their time for a positive cause.

Instead it's spraying paint and stealing music.

"I painted a hundred walls and trains in the past year."

"I put hundreds of albums on my blog and each got downloaded a hundred times."

Lawsuit Invades MYSPACE

Slowly, the wheels of copyright protection squash the obnoxious.

The most visible blogging on the Net is no, not at blogspot or myopera, but MYSPACE. That's why Universal Music fired a lawsuit their way claiming "the site routinely and knowingly allows users to upload and download copyrighted music and videos."

MYSPACE now has to spend a lot of money policing the site to mitigate damages, and worry if a judge grants Universal the requested $150,000 "per instance of infringement."

A MYSPACE rep insists, "We do not induce, encourage or condone copyright violation in any way," but that's not enough. Myspace, blogspot, myopera and all free Internet sites are now on notice to remove "terms of service" violations.

Various sites that imitate Rapidshare or Megaupload will also face huge penalties if they harbor illegal music files. Paypal is not exempt either, and will have to start removing accounts that are nothing but greedy bloggers demanding donations for the music they stole.

"Come and get me," cry the reckless bloggers, "you can't touch me, this is my space." The execs at MYSPACE know better. They are now working with a company called Gracenote to "identify and block copyrighted material," and develop software that will detect downloads and exactly who is responsible for them.

It's a shame that normal music lovers who want to share a song or two, or a favorite out of print album, are going to suffer because of a few selfish radicals who turn a blog or a forum into a smuggler's den.

MYSPACE and other websites and conduits for music sharing are not going to lose their shirts and go to jail because of some smug thugs who think they have a right to abuse the rights of others. Stealing and infringement are serious crimes.

When the RIAA can actually make money and collect punitive damages from some housewife who downloaded from Kazaa, and when Universal can get a fortune from a prosperous site like MySpace, the writing is on the wall. The writing in big letters is: Do Not Steal Music.