Well, I guess it's true that most of the "developed world" has the most of the bandwidth (along with everything else of monetary value) but I think that for the large majority on the planet, there is no need to worry, yes?

My point is that these discussions are very narrow in scope, and apply only to those in reach of Litigating parties, which is covered by a very short arm of the law. Example: in most of Asia, none of this applies, and in countries like India, Nepal, Afganistan, and surroundings, boot-legging is legal and state sanctioned: legal in the sense that valid tax-paying companies sell copied software, music, whatever, and that's just fine, as some of these countries have not even considered WTO's intellectual property agreements, and the local goverments just see this activity as everyday commerce, like selling a chinese rice cooker.

International tourists come to my hood all the time and fill suitcases full of CDs at 1USD (75 rupees) a pop. So I suppose this is file-sharing on a global scale, where the transfer methoud in this case is the Shop (vs. Limewire) and the files shared are with citizens of the planet and not within some small jurisdiction within a restrictive legal boundry (small portions of the internet).

BTW, whatever happenned to that upstate NY housewife charged, as her teenagers where using the computer to download files? We hear of things like that here over the internet radio, and think wahthefa.

Anyway, this is an interesting thread. Now I just wish I could get limewire to work and ditch Azureus. There are some things ya just can't find in the shops of Kathmandu...

jigs