Maybe, maybe not, but the link you provided shows only that he doesn’t want people stealing from him, which is a very sane and rational opinion. Whiny douchebags who get upset when people suggest that illegal downloaders should be punished need to grow up before anyone can take anything they have to say seriously.
Bullshit. When you steal a $1.00 song and get charged $1 million+ for it, it’s not about stealing. It’s about making money off of people. If it was about stealing, they wouldn’t keep making up bogus numbers and punishing people well beyond a proportionate response.
Or, to put it another way: if you steal my watch, and I go and kill you to get it back, you may be a thief, but I’m still an asshole. Anyone who wants more people to get hurt is an asshole.
And, no, the new system where people are guilty unless proven innocent, making a short circuit around the laws of this country, is not any better.
And if I steal your watch, that means that you lose a watch. If I “steal” a song “from” Gene Simmons, it means…well, that’s open to debate, but it’s certainly doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have the song anymore.
Has this happened? I think you exaggerate badly. I accept that damages awarded may be guesstimates of loss based on generous presumptions, but basically if you blatantly breach copyright to get free stuff, you put yourself in a place where the law is not going to do you any favours. Too bad, so sad.
Your comment about it being “about making money off of people” is beyond comical. What on Og’s earth do you think KISS is about, has always been about, and is openly about? OK, besides the band getting laid? I mean, your comment would be comical concerning any professional musician, but KISS? Are you freakin’ kidding me?
Intellectual property rights is a lot more complicated than not having the watch after the theft. It’s the whole essence of copyright. The relative means of prosecution are something better suited to a different thread.