Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Jonathan Coulton on MegaUpload and piracy

jonathancoulton.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 61 posts

Re: Jonathan Coulton on MegaUpload and piracy

#51

Post by DomreiRoam »

frooxie wrote: post #32
bostonpete wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure , but houses rarely burn down. Computers crash a lot . In fact, I'd venture to say that most (or maybe close to most?) computers end up in some state where their owners either can't or think they can't retrieve data from them. Based on the likelihood of this happening to their customers, it'd be decent to let users re-download media you know they've already paid for and been given access to...

Is it really that usual? I've used computers daily for 23 years, and I've never had a hard disk crash.

According to this http://hdd-compare.com/en/blog/hard-disk-drives-rma-statisti... or http://www.hardware.fr/articles/773-6/taux-pannes-composants..., it seems that you have betwwen 0 to 3 % chance to return your hard drive. That is quite higher to incident that can cause your full collection of DVD and CD to be destroyed.

Re: Jonathan Coulton on MegaUpload and piracy

#52

Post by Ryan_Shmotkin »

warfangle wrote: post #9

> don’t yell and scream about how you’re losing business to piracy when your stuff isn’t even available in the box I have on top of my TV. I ran into this a few months ago. I was bored and slightly drunk from brunch on a Saturday afternoon, and got it in my mind that I’d catch up on the final four Harry Potter movies. Whatever. That it was Harry Potter isn’t necessarily the point. Three of these films - Order of the…

I have a story too, I really wanted an apple and when I came into the super market they had this HUGE line and they only accept credit cards on purchases above 5$.

I won't tell you the course of action I took, but I really wanted an apple.

Obviously, totally their fault and its OK since they are a failing industry.

Re: Jonathan Coulton on MegaUpload and piracy

#53

Post by ThomPete »

Ryan_Shmotkin wrote: post #52
warfangle wrote: post #9

> don’t yell and scream about how you’re losing business to piracy when your stuff isn’t even available in the box I have on top of my TV. I ran into this a few months ago. I was bored and slightly drunk from brunch on a Saturday afternoon, and got it in my mind that I’d catch up on the final four Harry Potter movies. Whatever. That it was Harry Potter isn’t necessarily the point. Three of these films - Order of the…

I have a story too, I really wanted an apple and when I came into the super market they had this HUGE line and they only accept credit cards on purchases above 5$. I won't tell you the course of action I took, but I really wanted an apple. Obviously, totally their fault and its OK since they are a failing industry.

The thing is. There is a finite number of apples.

Re: Jonathan Coulton on MegaUpload and piracy

#54

Post by ovi256 »

Lazare wrote: post #12
omonra wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is ability to charge money for any labor a human right?

Apparently not. :) Almost all countries have extensive rules limiting your ability to charge money for your labour, including but not limited to: * Minimum wage laws * Professional licensing laws * Legal bans on prostitution

>Legal bans on prostitution

This is a widely misunderstood thing. Almost no country bans prostitution per se, not even most US states. That would be a gross violation of economic freedom. Instead they ban activities perceived as harmful: soliciting and pimping.

Re: Jonathan Coulton on MegaUpload and piracy

#55

Post by netcan »

A great point:

"We are constantly demonstrating through our actions what we believe to be the norms for acquiring and consuming content. Right now a lot of us think that it’s OK to download stuff through illegal sites under certain circumstances, and a lot of us think it’s totally fine to use those things to make videos and put them on YouTube even though YouTube profits from it. That’s not ME saying that, that’s US saying that"

Piracy discussions often go towards the ethical. It makes sense to look at what the actual ethical norms are.

Re: Jonathan Coulton on MegaUpload and piracy

#56

Post by omonra »

re_format wrote: post #5

The point that he raises by stating the fact that for most of the history of human art, people have not been paid to create art is not one to be overlooked. Mick Jagger has also said this of the music business specifically. Looking back on art over the centuries I would not say that today's art is necessarily "better" because people are paid to create it. Yet I've read statements by entertainment industry people that…

"The point that he raises by stating the fact that for most of the history of human art, people have not been paid to create art is not one to be overlooked."

I find this point meaningless. For most of human history a lot of things happened - for example 1) Slavery was normal 2) People were ruled by monarchies 3) Countries were constantly fighting each other

More to the point, we simply lacked the mechanism for 'normal people' (ie not nobles) to pay a small percent of their disposable income for art. Instead church & rich people picked up the slack and employed artists.

I think the point here is not so much about Intellectual Property as such, but about modes of distribution. Writers have been selling books for a couple hundred years - and nobody is complaining. We are comfortable buying books. But for media content the model is just not there yet. But let's talk about that - instead of attacking IP as such.

Re: Jonathan Coulton on MegaUpload and piracy

#57

Post by TeMPOraL »

ovi256 wrote: post #54
Lazare wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently not. :) Almost all countries have extensive rules limiting your ability to charge money for your labour, including but not limited to: * Minimum wage laws * Professional licensing laws * Legal bans on prostitution

>Legal bans on prostitution This is a widely misunderstood thing. Almost no country bans prostitution per se, not even most US states. That would be a gross violation of economic freedom. Instead they ban activities perceived as harmful: soliciting and pimping.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_and_the_law#Worldw... Wikipedia seems to disagree.

Re: Jonathan Coulton on MegaUpload and piracy

#58

Post by [deleted] »

warfangle wrote: post #9

> don’t yell and scream about how you’re losing business to piracy when your stuff isn’t even available in the box I have on top of my TV. I ran into this a few months ago. I was bored and slightly drunk from brunch on a Saturday afternoon, and got it in my mind that I’d catch up on the final four Harry Potter movies. Whatever. That it was Harry Potter isn’t necessarily the point. Three of these films - Order of the…

[deleted]

Re: Jonathan Coulton on MegaUpload and piracy

#59

Post by redthrowaway »

extension wrote: post #7
omonra wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is ability to charge money for any labor a human right?

Charging money is a right. Making money isn't.

This is one of those few one-liners that perfectly captures the point without any need for further exposition. It's like a ridiculously short function that does exactly what it needs to do. Thanks.

Re: Jonathan Coulton on MegaUpload and piracy

#60

Post by rincewind »

ThomPete wrote: post #53
Ryan_Shmotkin wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a story too, I really wanted an apple and when I came into the super market they had this HUGE line and they only accept credit cards on purchases above 5$. I won't tell you the course of action I took, but I really wanted an apple. Obviously, totally their fault and its OK since they are a failing industry.

The thing is. There is a finite number of apples.

There are more important differences:

1. Apples are fungible; one apple is as good as the next one: unlike Harry Potter movies you can consume apples in any order.

2. Nobody holds the copyright on a particular apple. There are many companies growing apples.

3. You can grow apple trees in your own garden from seeds. If this takes too long, you can buy a tree.

4. You can not download an apple. 5. Eating destroys apples. 6. Apples can rot. etc...

Post reply on HN