Four more large Internet service providers told the US Supreme Court this week that ISPs shouldn’t be forced to aggressively police copyright infringement on broadband networks.
While the ISPs worry about financial liability from lawsuits filed by major record labels and other copyright holders, they also argue that mass terminations of Internet users accused of piracy “would harm innocent people by depriving households, schools, hospitals, and businesses of Internet access.” The legal question presented by the case “is exceptionally important to the future of the Internet,” they wrote in a brief filed with the Supreme Court on Monday.
I know people really hate to hear this. You have a good reason to feel like you’re not doing anything wrong in some cases. But buying songs is a misnomer. These people running digital media stores know what they’re doing and the Terms of Use you click straight through without reading lays it all out in a way that you’re meant to understand. You don’t own the music, you have a license to enjoy the music under certain terms, including the ability of the owner to retract your license for a number of reasons beyond your control.
I’m not here to convince you to change your ways, nor to make a value judgment of you. Rather to simply answer your question: yes, that is piracy.