The Butt Ugly Weblog

Make software, go to jail

Er. Now, if I read this right - if you make software that is used illegally for filesharing, you go to jail. So, if someone installs JSPWiki and starts using it to share mp3 files with friends, I'm responsible? Wikis are meant for sharing things, after all.

The thing is, on this blog I've said on several occasions that I don't think file sharing as such is bad, and I think that if used the right way, it could change the entire business model of the music industry. Or something to that effect. This may be enough for someone to consider it "inciting to commit copyright violation" (which it isn't). Since I also make software that *could* be used to do such a thing (but it's not really intended for that), I'm getting into an area that is legally more gray than I would really like. If I speak favourably on say Grokster or other P2P companies, is that "inciting" for copyright infringement?

So, do I shut up and stop talking about copyright; or do I stop making software?