I suspect that HearMe is a public performance, since anyone can connect and listen, and therefore is in technical violation of the copyright laws. The violation is, in my mind, on the same order as driving 54 mph in a 50 mph zone, or giving your 20-year-old (or 17-year-old in Canada) child a beer in your own home.

In a world with as many laws as we have now, I think that, as a matter of common sense, you have to ask both, "Am I really harming anyone, or depriving anyone of anything they're rightfully entitled to?" and "What real chance is there of my getting caught and prosecuted?" as well as just "Is it against the law?"

Peter. (a lawyer, but not an intellectual property lawyer, and therefore guessing as much as the rest of you.)