As a fan of the band and the music, and when it seemed no album was comming out for years on end, I too was happy to hear new songs that I had never heard before. But why should my excitment at that mean I think that the person who distributed them acted within the law? In terms of the law he did the wrong thing. For us fans who wanted the songs, he did what we wanted. One thing has nothing to do with the other to me. Like Robin Hood gave money to the poor - but he still stole it!

I have a ton of respect for you sic as one of the most awesome posters out there. So i don't want this to sound like an attack on you...but I actually think it isn't the record companies who are naive on this issue...it's the digital p2p and online comunities you refer to who are naive.

Sure, tehcnology is going to make it easy to do this stuff, and hard to catch people. But in the physical non-digital world, copyright is a legal right that is enforced, and people like the FBI don't see it as old fashioned or going away just because we have computers now.

Technology makes it possible for people to steal money from banks from their own homes. Are the police naive to investigate this as the crime of theft just because it didn't happen with a shotgun at a brick-and-morter bank? Likewise copyright violation is an offence if you do it digitally, or if you go in with some old school hardware and steal the songs in person.

There are broader socological issues at hand - that ask questions about why information and sound should be capiable of being copyrighted - which is what I think is at the heart and soul in the minds of those who refer to copyright as outdated, replaced by the internet and so on...who feel they have the right to stuff because its now possible to do it easily...but that's an issue for your legislators then...take it up in politics if you feel the laws are outdated and no longer appropriate.....but don't call the cops nieve...as the status quo is that what many people do is illegal...and just becasue it seems natural to internet junkies like the people on here....doesn't mean the real world police will see it that way - from their point of view - laws have been broken.