In California the studios (like today's students) could violate the law with impunity. Had the industry remained in New York, we'd still be in the kinematograph era: Law-abiding and backward.
The authorities seem, tacitly, to agree with this analysis. The MPAA (which reckons piracy costs it US$3.5 billion a year) directs its wrath at bootleg factories in China. Campus downloaders get little attention. The local LAPD piracy squad has never raided Jonas's college.
The college itself turns a blind(ish) eye to the practice. Students caught using the institutional server are reprimanded and required to read copyright law and take a quiz on the subject (Jonas is very knowledgeable). Fines or expulsion haven't happened, nor do they seem likely.
A revolution is happening in the film industry.
Behind every revolution lies crime. Until after the revolution, that is, when crime is redefined as the people's hammer blow for freedom. Forward with the student downloaders, say I. And thanks, Jonas, for the loan.
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