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Author Slams eBook Piracy, Son Outs Her As a Music Pirate

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Re: Author Slams eBook Piracy, Son Outs Her As a Music Pirate

#11

Post by mikecane »

rick888 wrote: post #7

This still doesn't change the fact that piracy does hurt authors. The sad fact is that piracy is only getting worse. Even when you can get a song for 99 cents with no DRM or restrictions, music piracy is still rampant. I'm waiting for the next set of excuses. In '99, it was because music was too expensive and the artists were getting screwed (which is a funny excuse, because 1% of something is something, but 1% of 0…

I'd still like to know how much piracy is due to friction. The First Friction being the inability to take cash and turn it easily into digital payments.

Re: Author Slams eBook Piracy, Son Outs Her As a Music Pirate

#12

Post by raquo »

WillyF wrote: post #4

I think that humans have an inherent problem with seeing piracy as theft unless they are the victims. Theft in a traditional sense is almost always zero-sum, and piracy isn't. We weren't really built to deal with this. The closest thing that I can think of is having someone sleep with your spouse—it's kind of like stealing, but it's not zero-sum. And it's not illegal. It also doesn't help that our intellectual proper…

I think most humans default to disregarding the other end of most relationships unless something urges them to.

Re: Author Slams eBook Piracy, Son Outs Her As a Music Pirate

#13

Post by markkat »

pmichaud wrote: post #3

I sell e-books and they almost all get pirated. I don't care, I just focus on the people who want to pay for my stuff. No skin off my nose if they don't.

Same here. A file that can be copied infinite times without cost is not worth much. I put 2 years of work into a book that gets pirated all the time. I have no problem with it at all.

I think we would be better off reevaluating business models rather than suffering the effects of trying to preserve out-dated ones.

Re: Author Slams eBook Piracy, Son Outs Her As a Music Pirate

#14

Post by wccrawford »

WillyF wrote: post #4

I think that humans have an inherent problem with seeing piracy as theft unless they are the victims. Theft in a traditional sense is almost always zero-sum, and piracy isn't. We weren't really built to deal with this. The closest thing that I can think of is having someone sleep with your spouse—it's kind of like stealing, but it's not zero-sum. And it's not illegal. It also doesn't help that our intellectual proper…

Duplicate it at no cost to anyone except yourself, I think you mean.

It often does cost time and money to pirate things.

And now that RepRap and similar 3D object printers are becoming more popular, they will continue to come down in price. It won't be long before printing physical items is a possibility, and then wholesale pirating of things that used to be protected by patents will start.

And if you're having trouble imagining that happening, don't worry. It was just as hard to imagine music piracy before MP3s. It happened on a VERY small scale before that due to difficulty and media cost.

Re: Author Slams eBook Piracy, Son Outs Her As a Music Pirate

#16

Post by duke_sam »

WillyF wrote: post #4

I think that humans have an inherent problem with seeing piracy as theft unless they are the victims. Theft in a traditional sense is almost always zero-sum, and piracy isn't. We weren't really built to deal with this. The closest thing that I can think of is having someone sleep with your spouse—it's kind of like stealing, but it's not zero-sum. And it's not illegal. It also doesn't help that our intellectual proper…

It reminds me of some welfare recipients claiming welfare should be cut for others. As long as it's someone else benefiting from an action it's ripe for cutting but if I'm benefiting then it's justified.

Re: Author Slams eBook Piracy, Son Outs Her As a Music Pirate

#18

Post by tallanvor »

hvs wrote: post #6
WillyF wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never thought of it, but poaching is a lot like piracy. I don't think your intent was to make that analogy, but there are a lot of similarities.

Except that wildlife is a limited resource that needs to be protected from poachers. It's only like piracy if you think there is an unlimited supply of wildlife that anyone should be able to take as they like.

An ebook, mp3, or other digital object can be considered an unlimited resource, the creator of said object is a limited resource, and they do deserve protection.

That said, authors and artists like the lady in the article are hurting themselves when they choose not to make their works available to people in the format they want, especially when it is very easy to convert those works into different formats, or at least easy enough that people are willing to do it.

Re: Author Slams eBook Piracy, Son Outs Her As a Music Pirate

#19

Post by ctkrohn »

Oh come on. It's easy to call someone a hypocrite -- everyone agrees its wrong, whatever their other moral principles might be. The failures of an individual don't really have much bearing on whether the individual's moral beliefs are right.

EDIT: changed "everyone agrees its wrong" to "everyone agrees hypocrisy is wrong"

Re: Author Slams eBook Piracy, Son Outs Her As a Music Pirate

#20

Post by arethuza »

wccrawford wrote: post #14
WillyF wrote: post #4

I think that humans have an inherent problem with seeing piracy as theft unless they are the victims. Theft in a traditional sense is almost always zero-sum, and piracy isn't. We weren't really built to deal with this. The closest thing that I can think of is having someone sleep with your spouse—it's kind of like stealing, but it's not zero-sum. And it's not illegal. It also doesn't help that our intellectual proper…

Duplicate it at no cost to anyone except yourself, I think you mean. It often does cost time and money to pirate things. And now that RepRap and similar 3D object printers are becoming more popular, they will continue to come down in price. It won't be long before printing physical items is a possibility, and then wholesale pirating of things that used to be protected by patents will start. And if you're having troub…

Can you actually think of any examples where "printing" 3D objects that are protected by patents is likely to be a problem in the foreseeable future?
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