Yes, of course. I agree. And because so many sites and software companies fear being liable they have some very elaborate lawyerly stuff that one must agree with before getting involved with their particular offerings. Even so, the sheer numbers of those joining such sites and using various software products make it nearly impossible at this time to be able to police it all. It sounds bad because it is. The solution sounds like a software fix that limits such unauthorized usage but I'm not a software engineer. Nor am I a lawyer. So, I'm in the same boat your are.

Getting ripped off in the way you describe isn't pleasant and for the record, I do not agree with those that feel that just because they can do it and get away with it, that they have the green light to go ahead and do it. It just isn't right.

In my brief looking about in this big cyber world I've seen many sites that actively do not support the kind of thievery you are concerned about but they also have no means to actively enforce that stand. It is largely an honor system. Just one look at the number and variety of nasty bugs that are being blocked by my spam filter alone and I know that I'm outnumbered and surrounded. We do need help, all the help we can get.

When I've encountered those who steal in the real world, when I've looked them in the face while removing my possesions from their pockets, after they've stared straight into my eyes and told me that they did not take them, I realize that I am looking at someone who is totally foreign to me and everything I believe. It's as though they are from another planet altogether. I don't have the capacity to understand why they do what they do.

One recent expose points out that one reason that people continue to steal via the web is because the web is such that it makes it easy for them to do so and then easily cover their tracks. I couldn't easily count how many times that I've been notified via some spam that I've won the International Lottery. The word has been out for some time now and the scams are abundant. It's a lot like the depictions of the wild west frontiers of old but multiplied on a much more massive scale.

It's hard to calculate the individual acts of shenanigans. Even if collectively they add up to huge numbers lost, who has the resources to talley them and then counter such an enslaught? The laws of the land are just beginning to realize that they hold little weight in the cyber world and are only now waking up to the fact all new restrictions are needed to combat and prevent cyber crime.

Having such a small footprint in this whole experience, I'm not sure that I can offer solutions to make right the many wrongs out there in the mess we're discussing. Like so many others on the web I grope blindly for direction with the many questions that I face each time I get involved with offering my music online and find few answers.

Mick, are you concerned because you've already had someone steal your work? I hope you don't feel that I was making light of that by my comments.