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Why I'm a Pirate

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Re: Why I'm a Pirate

#261

Post by junto »

ravenheart wrote: post #120
junto wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel your pain. Unless you are English speaking in the USA, Spanish speaking in Spain, or German speaking in Germany then you are an edge case. I pity the 14 million "edge case" Catalan speakers in Spain.

14 million? Accordingo to this: http://www.caib.es/conselleries/educacio/dgpoling/user/catal... (sorry, spanish) there are around 7 million Catalan speakers in all europe (including Spain, Andorra, France and Italy). Your argument holds, still. Indeed, I'm pretty sure most content is available in Catalan here in Spain. I would be more worried about the italian ones, or even the french.

Wikipedia says 11.5 million, but the point is that even at this scale, they are still treated as an edge case: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_language

I'm sure there are other examples, but the general rule should be that language is a preference and not geographically forced.

Re: Why I'm a Pirate

#262

Post by billswift »

mikeash wrote: post #223
sbarre wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saying that "when you pirate something the creator loses zero money" is an even worse argument. You actually missed my point though (but I concede I used a rather simplified argument). I was actually taking the "it's not available in my area" or "it's to expensive" argument of the OP to justify piracy to its logical conclusion. I was pointing out that you can't circumvent the creator/owner's choices or restrictions o…

If it is your belief that the creator's terms of use should reign supreme, that is legitimate, but if you want to argue for it then you need to actually argue for it. I wouldn't say that I missed your point, merely that I objected to a particular argument you used it making it. I realize this is a lower level of discourse than addressing your main point entirely, but I'm hoping that it would raise the level of discou…

They argue that way because their inflated claims have no merit. The only justification for copyright that doesn't amount to arrogant and unjustifiable claims of "creator privilege" (my phrase, but that is what their wordy arguments amount to) is that given in the US Constitution, as a practical matter "to promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries".

You might notice in "useful arts" that an argument could be made right now, that fiction, music, movies, and video games never should have been covered. And, in fact, music wasn't covered for decades afterward.

Re: Why I'm a Pirate

#263

Post by HeyImAlex »

rdtsc wrote: post #215
HeyImAlex wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>How is it stealing if they can still have that something? Because that's not a decision you should get to make. The cost associated with creating most things isn't in raw materials alone but man hours that went in to produce it, and the author is entitled to ask for whatever they think their hard work and their end product are worth. Is the benefit of getting that product not worth the price they're asking? Here's a…

> Because that's not a decision you should get to make. So who gets to make it. I guess that means you'd agree with MPAA claims some 16 year old kid out there can be sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars because they downloaded a couple of songs. What if they sue them for $100M, is that valid? If the defendant gets to unilaterally re-define and attribute semantics to words and decide what the punishment is do you…

You're extrapolating what I was talking about, namely the immorality of piracy, to something that I wasn't. Punishment of offenses is another issue entirely, and one that I didn't get into at all.

Re: Why I'm a Pirate

#264

Post by mjwalshe »

grellas wrote: post #212

Creative effort - or at at least any that is truly worthy of the name - takes tears, and sweat, and blood. We can marvel at the output of an artist, or a writer, or a composer, or a film maker and yet fail to focus on the years of toil that often preceded that work. And I am not here speaking of some isolated genius. I still remember the days when I was so dissatisfied with my lack of writing skills that I decided to…

Hear Hear

Re: Why I'm a Pirate

#265

Post by Spoom »

wwwtyro wrote: post #252
Spoom wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I realize that it can't happen any time soon due to the current businesses that rely on copyright protection, there have been alternatives proposed that work without it, like The Digital Art Auction ( http://tdaa.digitalproductions.co.uk/history/essay.htm ) and Street Performer Protocol ( http://www.schneier.com/paper-street-performer.html , blacked out due to SOPA as of writing). Vastly simplified, they descri…

I strongly approve, and I think they are probably part of the way things will be done in the future. Kickstarter is already making great forays into this field. It's serendipitous that you bring this up, as I am currently working on a startup that uses this very method!

Interesting. Something I've considered doing, though I'd first look at how to avoid the problems with these systems that the sibling post mentioned (how to get the initial investment, how to enable artists without a reputation to earn pledges, how to guarantee output once the threshold is reached, how to pledge in a binding but revokeable way, etc.) How are you working around these issues?

Re: Why I'm a Pirate

#266

Post by absconditus »

zalthor wrote: post #17

When I was living in the United states I was able to use services like Netflix and spotify and get the content I wanted whenever I wanted where ever I wanted. Now, I that live in India, I cannot get that content legally. I cannot watch the TV shows I want to watch as they are aired (I have to wait 2-3 years for stuff to come on TV). The ONLY option I have is to download tv shows via torrents / find some online stream…

That is not your only option. You could also choose not to watch those shows at all. Desires are poor justification for such behavior.

Re: Why I'm a Pirate

#267

Post by absconditus »

guard-of-terra wrote: post #162
planb wrote: post #20

A lot of his arguments are centered around the music industry, but guess what: You can get a high quality, DRM free song with just one click for about $1 today. This makes his whole blog post sound like an uninformed, whiny rant.

Not for every artist and not in every country.

Oh, then ignore the rules in all cases.

Re: Why I'm a Pirate

#268

Post by absconditus »

Zirro wrote: post #43

How about those of us who live where getting certain products legally is essentially impossible? In my case, these are anime-series and documentaries, neither which can be bought where I live. What should I do, if I really want to watch these, and have no way of getting them except for P2P? (Fun fact: Availability was what "drove" me into piracy in the first place. There was a TV-show which had aired about a year ear…

I promise that you will not perish if you do not fulfill your every desire.

Re: Why I'm a Pirate

#269

Post by dchest »

Tycho wrote: post #152
dchest wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, attacking ships is bad. Sharing, on the other hand, is honorable.

Sharing an original work against the express wishes of the creator? Nope, you are dishonouring their hard work in creating the content and their intentions in making it available to the public. I supposes breaching the terms of the GPL would be 'honourable' too.

GPL is about sharing the source code of the original or derivative work. Which is pretty honorable. Breaching the terms of GPL means refusing to share.

Regarding your first point, yes, since we're speaking about ethics here, it's morally acceptable to disregard wishes of authors to restrict your freedom of handling copies of their published work, as long as doing this is good for people and makes no harm to authors.

Seriously, what is wrong with people's moral compasses with regards to sharing? Is this the result of brainwashing by publishers? OK, laws are laws, but morals? They have nothing to do with laws. Oh the mighty author, should I apologize to you (or, perhaps, go to jail) for signing your songs before you died + century?

Re: Why I'm a Pirate

#270

Post by adharmad »

hxa7241 wrote: post #234
grellas wrote: post #212

Creative effort - or at at least any that is truly worthy of the name - takes tears, and sweat, and blood. We can marvel at the output of an artist, or a writer, or a composer, or a film maker and yet fail to focus on the years of toil that often preceded that work. And I am not here speaking of some isolated genius. I still remember the days when I was so dissatisfied with my lack of writing skills that I decided to…

> The point is that this is my decision. Granting the creator such rights takes them away from everyone else. Why is that justified? Why should one person, the creator, be able to tell other people what they can and cannot do? > In that case, anybody can use it, replicate it, seek to profit from it, claim it as his own, or whatever, all without my having any say whatever in that process. This is a common approach, bu…

> > The point is that this is my decision. > Granting the creator such rights takes them away from everyone else. Why is that justified? Why should one person, the creator, be able to tell other people what they can and cannot do?

Because, the creative work would not exist if not for the creator. If you take away the creator's right (and I am not arguing that it should be infinite and indefinite), you take away the incentive to produce and expose creative work. In effect, everyone loses.

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