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Why I Pirate - An Open Letter to Content Creators
40hz:
Well, it sounds great when put like that, but it would seem to be just a high-sounding opinion naively flying in the face of what is apparently a quite different reality in practice.
-IainB (March 09, 2012, 04:27 PM)
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It's not a smart-alecky comment at all. tranglos was addressing the underlying logic and philosophical argument being made. You're discussing realpolitik - which we all can appreciate is often different from what the law may actually say - even when it isn't flying directly in the face of it.
So I wouldn't dismiss tranglos' comment as either being high-flown or naive. It just elegantly and succinctly points out how morally and logically bankrupt one of the arguments being used in support of the realpolitik of copyright enforcement (i.e. the absolute sanctity law) actually is.
It also illustrates just how divorced most IP legislation is from reality because it ignores the predominant reasonable flexibility and "living practice" of enforcing laws.
For the IP protection mavens, copyright and related legislation is being presented as something akin to an inevitable force of nature rather than the human invention any law is. And like all forces of nature, those supporting this new legislation see such laws as being neither subject to human interpretation nor to amelioration in practice. These new laws are being seen as absolutes.
Naive and high-flown arguments? I should say so...
But they aren't the ones being made by tranglos. :)
db90h:
I edited my above post a lot, as I usually do. I didn't want drawn into this because I GIVE most all my content away FREELY. I treat my consumers with RESPECT and DIGNITY. Still, there are realities that are simply the truth:
* IP laws need reformed, but we MUST have them - else somebody could copy ALL OF DonationCoder.com and set up some new domain and that would be 'just fine'. Without IP laws, we would have chaos.
* FACT: Pirated software and other content *is* one of the largest (or the largest) vector for spreading malware. Often times this malware is completely transparent to the user, and once a rootkit is installed on the PC, the malware is virtually invisible to security software and the end user. It can lie there for years, being yet another zombie machine on a botnet. Botnet owners control millions of PCs in total, each botnet controller having their own botnet of thousands to hundreds of thousands. They then get together and coordinate attacks or do whatever else. I am not making this up to scare people. Please, do your homework before you question this, as I've worked for security companies and have analyzed this stuff with my own eyes. YES, there are safe places where pirated software is distributed, I'm sure -- but it's pretty darn hard to know which is safe and which isn't. The fact that so these botnets (or malware %) are so large says it all when it comes to malware.
* As has recently happened, pirates selling my software and putting money in their pockets, leaving me with the 'support bill' isn't cool. That is, and should be, illegal.
* Consumers should respect Producers, and Producers should respect Consumers. I am WELL AWARE that without my consumers I am nothing. I therefore treat them with the utmost of respect.
Again, I am no license nazi, with 95% of my work being either freeware or open source. Some seemed to mis-interpret my comments. I hope this clarifies it. As someone said, where's the compromise these days?
40hz:
As someone said, where's the compromise these days?
-db90h (March 09, 2012, 06:31 PM)
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Good question. That is one of the real problems with all of this. Too many people insist this is a zero-sum game - and behave and think accordingly.
:-\
superboyac:
As someone said, where's the compromise these days?
-db90h (March 09, 2012, 06:31 PM)
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Good question. That is one of the real problems with all of this. Too many people insist this is a zero-sum game - and behave and think accordingly.
:-\
-40hz (March 09, 2012, 06:39 PM)
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There is no honest communication happening. None. No normal person can have an honest and open conversation with anyone in power. Not bank managers, not people who can make decisions in large comapnies, not your politicians, not the president. So anything the people in power are hearing is coming second-hand. And they're not trying to fix that, so the communication will continue to have middle-men. Middle-men remove the raw truth and emotion behind whatever words are said and written down. being able to email your congressman through a form on a website is not personal and honest communication. That's basically a congressman doing the bare minimum to communicate. They are basically saying, "what can I do to make people think I'm accessible, but not actually have to deal with the people I'm supposed to be accessible to?"
And you'll see that most things are like that. Anything that you, as a unique individual, truly desire and want to find out how to accomplish AND you need the help of someone other than a personal friend or family member, you will notice all the obstacles in place.
Think of it like the cell phone companies:
When you want to get your first cell phone, you walk in and within minutes you have your phone up and working. Free things are all over the place and the efficiency is almost wizard-like. BUT...when you want to terminate the contract...prepare to spend hours on the phone, or paying lots of crazy fees, and all sorts of other things that will make you feel shitty, paranoid, guilty, doubtful, etc.
db90h:
Indeed, superboyac, the problem with a lack of any middle ground or compromise is far larger than this issue alone.
As for the trend of long-term contracts on everything, don't get me started ;o. It is the most outrageous crap, and *should* be outlawed in any civil society. I mean, to obligate yourself to any service or company for a period of years, with heavy penalties if you terminate pre-maturely is a form of indenturement similar to the indentured servants of the past.
If only our politicians were on *our* side... LOL. Strange how they aren't, when America is supposed to be the shining example of Democracy (even though it technically isn't a Democracy, before someone points that out ;p). As that leaked Citibank memo said, our society is now a plutocracy, something never intended or envisioned by the founding fathers. While they had a fear of true democracy, and hence set up the electoral college, they did not intend for the rich and powerful to hold sole control over our politicians.
And if you think things are bad now ... just wait as these new SuperPACs grow. Thank you Supreme Court, great job you did. (sarcasm)
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