Dear Editors

Your Sep 27 article, When "Piracy" Funds Terrorism, violated a basic principle of journalism: not to make an accusation without positive grounds. It accused unauthorized CD producers of funding terrorism, but cited no grounds for this except that some of them are in Pakistan.

I have no great sympathy for those who commercially copy music without paying the musicians. (That includes the major record labels, since most of their musicians do not actually receive royalties for their records.) But we must reject the attempts to demonize those who copy, whether it means saying they support terrorists or simply calling them "pirates", because this propaganda campaign doesn't stop with commercial copiers. Its real target is you and me--anyone who sometimes copies a record. The real terror campaign is being mounted by the record companies, which are suing hundreds and perhaps soon thousands of ordinary people in the US. It aims to make people so frightened that they do not dare share with their friends. Helping one's friends is part of human nature, so it takes a lot of fear to make people stop.

I hope that the citizens of India will insist on keeping India safe from record company terror.

Richard Stallman 545 Tech Square Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA