Penn Jillette Likes IP Rights and Ripping CDs

What do we really own when we buy something anyway?Penn Jillette is the taller, louder half of the magic and comedy act Penn and Teller.  He is also a research fellow at the Cato Institute and has lectured at Oxford and MIT. Somewhere along the path of being a magician, writer of best-selling books, and producer of a film about a single dirty joke, he developed an affinity for IP rights.

But Penn gets steamed when RIAA members suggest that ripping a CD to your iPod should be illegal. Why would anyone suggest ripping a single file is illegal? Just think how much easier that is to prove than the whole “making available” requirement in copyright infringement.

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