Well, if you acted in good faith I'm sure that would be a fair defense. For example, buying stolen goods is illegal in most countries. If you're buying something used for 60% of retail price off a classifieds site that turns to be stolen, that would in be good faith. You might lose the stolen item in any case, but you would not be prosecuted.
Similarly if you were downloading a black & white movie off some official looking site that claims to collect out-of-copyright films.
But if you're downloading a 2009 blockbuster off Pirate Bay using BitTorrent, that's clearly malicious. But it's not even that kind of case that's being civilly prosecuted by RIAA and its ilk -- it's only when you start uploading this material to others that they strike.
Personally I find the behaviour of many of the pirates pathethic. Just admit that you want ready access to material that was expensive to create for free already, don't make some nonsensical claims about free speech or restrictive copyrights or oppressive record companies.
Want to fight exploitive record companies? Buy only music from independents, support those band tours'. Ignore newest pop albums from RIAA companies. Tell everyone how great your independent band is, play their music at parties.
Want to oppose restrictive copyrights? Make everything you create true Public Domain. Microsoft using your PD code in a commercial product? Great, your work is being put to good use.
I think uploading is the threshold for illegality, but I still think downloading should be a safe zone. It's up to the gov't to make sure no one breaks the law by providing copyrighted stuff for free.
Morally speaking if I know something shouldn't be freely available online, it would be wrong to download it, almost like how it would be wrong to buy something you know is stolen.
Similarly if you were downloading a black & white movie off some official looking site that claims to collect out-of-copyright films.
But if you're downloading a 2009 blockbuster off Pirate Bay using BitTorrent, that's clearly malicious. But it's not even that kind of case that's being civilly prosecuted by RIAA and its ilk -- it's only when you start uploading this material to others that they strike.
Personally I find the behaviour of many of the pirates pathethic. Just admit that you want ready access to material that was expensive to create for free already, don't make some nonsensical claims about free speech or restrictive copyrights or oppressive record companies.
Want to fight exploitive record companies? Buy only music from independents, support those band tours'. Ignore newest pop albums from RIAA companies. Tell everyone how great your independent band is, play their music at parties.
Want to oppose restrictive copyrights? Make everything you create true Public Domain. Microsoft using your PD code in a commercial product? Great, your work is being put to good use.