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<DIV>Personally, I have never downloaded or copied movies, music, etc. and that
isn't just because I'm technologically inept. Can't say I'm entirely
innocent though. I'd be willing to lay kopins that I'm not the only one on
this list that has patronized the pirated DVD booths at cons. Sure, we all
know they're illegally copied/sold videos, even if the seller slaps a disclamer
that he/she believes this material is in the public domain (saw that one on
Star Wars--yeah right). My moral justification is that we're trolling
those booths for programs that have never been professionally released for the
home video market (e.g. Star Wars Christmas Special), and we're not buying the
bootleg Spiderman 2 or whatever. We buy the professional releases of the
programs or movies when they are available, but certain things are simply not
out there on the non-pirated market. I'd give the
producer/writer/artist his cut if they would just put it out there for me
to buy from them, but until they do... Sure that's just excusing something
that I know good and well is a violation of US copyright laws. I've not
lost sleep over it.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>As for the resale of artwork on eBay, I'll just reiterate what has become,
I think, the consensus: people who get sketches from artists for the
express purpose of selling them are jerks, and not just because they make the
lines longer for us legitimate fans. However, if you got a sketch from a
favorite artist, then fall on hard economic times, it is a painful decision to
part with your sketch to make the rent payment this month. Knowing that
you had to hawk your beloved artwork for a roof over your head is bad enough
without us self-righteously emailing "tsk-tsk" from our comfy, warm
computers. Between those two ends, there is a lot of grey area that ME and
Sergio, being the interested parties, assess on a case-by-case basis. All
we need to do is bring it to their attention. I think, as a Groop, we're
pretty good at doing that, and they're pretty good at nabbing genuine
offenders.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Janet</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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