LIKE THOUSANDS of patriotic Americans, I spent Memorial Day weekend illegally downloading a copy of the new ''Star Wars" movie. I was shocked by how quickly I was able to locate a copy on the Net (less than five minutes) and how long it took for the whole thing to end up on my computer (two days and change -- talk about holiday weekend traffic). There were no secret passwords, no locations known only to the cognoscenti. All I had to do was Point, Google, Pilfer.
I won't pull out the ''I am a journalist and I was just doing research" defense. I acknowledge the indefensibility of my actions...
The age of digital media is upon us, and the film companies should stop hunting down individual filesharers (like, er, me) and just keep innovating until they find the right technology and business models.
- From The downloaders strike back, By Jimmy Guterman, in today's Boston Globe.
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