No, not me… poor Anne Muir, a 58-year-old grandmother of eight. She was was sentenced today to three years in prison and psychiatric help. What did this wicked woman actually do? She plead guilty to file sharing.

If you are upset by this ruling, then you will be really upset when you think about it this way: Anne is not going to be able to spend time with her grandchildren because of less songs than it would take to fill up a bottom of the line iPod.

The media industries of the world are creating a system where innocent people of non-violent crimes are being put into prison and being treated like animals. The media industries call this a “victory”, but it is nothing of the sort. It’s an attack on reasonable people who want to share their culture, a right that was listed as a “Human Right” by the United Nations. She didn’t download those songs because she hated the artists and wanted them to suffer, she downloaded them so that they could bring her joy, and so she could share her love of great music with the people she cares about.

Obviously this is just something being blown out of proportion though, right? I mean she probably look like some crimainal… (Sorry my blog is acting up so I am just going to have to link http://travismccrea.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/53079138_copyright_muir.jpg )

Nope… She doesn’t look like a criminal to me. She looks like a sweet woman in her youth++ and doesn’t appear to be a threat to society.

What’s worse about this entire action is that they have labelled her a hoarder for storing these files on her computer and will require her to get psychiatric help. Anyone who is is lucky enough (and unfortunate enough at the same time) to look through my /home folder, and especially my ~/Downloads folder will learn a whole new definition to hoarding. I don’t accept that this lady is a criminal and I don’t accept that she deserves to spend three years away from her family.

This is just another case of the Media Industries (being pressured by US media industries) trying to circumvent rights and circumvent what is right, just to keep their old business models.