A DIFFERENCE THAT ISN'T A DIFFERENCE

Last week the operators of PIRATE BAY were found guilty of copyright infringement, sentenced to a year in jail each and ordered to pay upward of 3 million dollars to the various producers of TV series and movies.  While I feel for the production companies strapped by increasing costs the fact is downloading cannot be illegal.  How the show came to be in the hands of the person sharing it can be.

To illustrate my argument here are five case studies that prove the legal precedent favours PIRATE BAY:
Case 1: I record a show on video tape and loan it to a friend who never returns it. VERDICT: Legal.
Case 2: My friend who has Video On Demand calls up an episode of a show, records it on his PVR and pushes it to a DVD then gives that copy to me because I missed it. VERDICT: Legal.
Case 3: A friend moves to another country which doesn't have access to shows we like.  I record the show and mail a copy of it to him. VERDICT: Legal.
Case 4: I meet someone in a chat room who lives where these shows don't run so I record them and send them to that person. VERDICT: Legal.
Case 5: A friend moves to a country where his show isn't available and asks me to record it from my TV.  Rather than spend the money on postage I email it to him.
QUID PRO QUO: If the recording from TV and saving said copy on a blank DVD isn't illegal then emailing said product is the same as mailing it.

Now the case for PIRATE BAY: People come to a website looking for shows not available in their area. They search, find and click the link and a digital file of a TV show recorded by someone they've never met is sent to them through the internet.
QUID PRO QUO: If taping and mailing the show isn't illegal, then recording and emailing it isn't illegal, then recording and making it available for others to download via the same internet CAN NOT be illegal.

Law is based on precedent. Unless the TV Networks prosecuted people taping shows for friends AND unless the post office prosecuted people in tape rings, OR prosecuted grandmothers for mailing copies of shows taped off their TVs, then the only difference is the scope and method of transport.
If recording something in analog and mailing a physical copy of it isn't illegal then recording something digitally and sending a virtual copy CAN NOT BE ILLEGAL.
The boys at PIRATE BAY are appealing the verdict and if the law is just then they must be acquitted because precedent is on their side.

The files are only illegal if someone bought and then ripped the DVD information from it.  But that can’t be the case when the episode just aired the night before I watch it and won’t be available on DVD for many months.  So unless the TV industry wants to make recording their shows off-air illegal, PIRATE BAY will prevail.

LONG LIVE PIRATE BAY!