Oh well, this is unfortunately expected. I'm not sure we'll ever see reasonable progress on this issue anytime soon.
Obama administration: "Piracy is flat, unadulterated theft"
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Re: Obama administration: "Piracy is flat, unadulterated theft"
#22I keep telling myself, this has to be better than if we'd elected McCain -- right?
Back in 1999, there were a lot of people who took the position of "Doesn't matter if it's Gore or Bush, they're both just as bad." I'm pretty sure no one who had that sentiment before still holds that notion.
It's a lot better than if we elected McCain/Palin, yes.
Re: Obama administration: "Piracy is flat, unadulterated theft"
#23I keep telling myself, this has to be better than if we'd elected McCain -- right?
“While the Internet has provided tremendous opportunity for the creators of copyrighted works, including music and movies, to distribute their works around the world at low cost, it has also given rise to a global epidemic of piracy,” reads his plan. “John McCain supports efforts to crack down on piracy, both on the Internet and off.”
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9702/mccain_no_netneutrality_ne...
Re: Obama administration: "Piracy is flat, unadulterated theft"
#24It's funny how the word Piracy is used. One has to wonder what kind of pirates we are talking about. The "Pirates of the Caribbean" type of pirates did loot ships, but what they stole where often goods produced by slavery and itself stolen from the colonies. Piracy or as I prefer to call it – copying is the result of a disconnect between price and cost. When you steal you take something away from others so it's not t…
There is absolutely nothing that states that it's fair for musicians or other artist to make millions by mass producing and distributing at almost zero cost.
Is it fair for software developers to make money by mass producing and distributing at almost zero cost?
Re: Obama administration: "Piracy is flat, unadulterated theft"
#25I hate it when people equate piracy with theft...it's copyright infringement, not theft. If someone breaks into my car and steals my iPod, that's theft. I, the original owner, no longer possess the item. If instead the "thief" breaks into my car and copies all of the music from my iPod (let's say that all of the songs are recordings of my band to make things simple) and posts it on several torrent trackers, that's pi…
First. Pirates, most of the time, take away from the potential revenue of a copyright owner. You can argue that you wouldn't have used that product otherwise anyway, but thats not always true. Second. The reason the music industry is booming with the likes of iTunes is the convenient access to it. In the past, it was more convenient to pirate, now its more convenient to buy than it is to pirate.
In the past, it was more convenient to pirate, now its more convenient to buy than it is to pirate.
I'll agree with you there, but I don't think legal music downloads could have succeeded if they hadn't been illegal first, in the same way that freemium services become so popular based on the free option, only later to make money with the paid plan. Take my generation, who went to college from 1998-2002...we got so used to downloading illegally (the scour.net guys were in the next building over from me), that we still download today, just on iTunes since we have money now.
Re: Obama administration: "Piracy is flat, unadulterated theft"
#26[deleted]
Re: Obama administration: "Piracy is flat, unadulterated theft"
#27I hate it when people equate piracy with theft...it's copyright infringement, not theft. If someone breaks into my car and steals my iPod, that's theft. I, the original owner, no longer possess the item. If instead the "thief" breaks into my car and copies all of the music from my iPod (let's say that all of the songs are recordings of my band to make things simple) and posts it on several torrent trackers, that's pi…
Devils advocate: there are obviously a lot of people that write programming code here. That is something created within each person's mind, and brought into existence -- just like a song. How would any of us view having our computers hacked into at the leisure of would-be users of our programs who sought to copy our code and then use it? Would we view this as theft?
Re: Obama administration: "Piracy is flat, unadulterated theft"
#28From the article: Locke then lamented the fate of songwriters. "Recently, I've had a chance to read letters from award winning writers and artists whose livelihoods have been destroyed by music piracy. One letter that stuck out for me was a guy who said the songwriting royalties he had depended on to 'be a golden parachute to fund his retirement had turned out to be a lead balloon.' This just isn't right." I don't be…
If I download the mp3 copy of a CD I own a physical copy of, am I a criminal? Did I steal from the artist? To the first question, I would say that you are guilty of copyright infringement. Compare it to buying a bootleg DVD of a DVD that you already own that was scratched and is now unplayable, or sneaking in to watch the re-release of Avatar now that you own it on Blu-Ray. To the second, no you haven't stolen anythi…
How could he be guilty of copyright infringement when courts have ruled it is legal to have a digital backup of your media? If he copied the mp3s from a friend who ripped the CD as a short-cut, would you still see him as guilty of piracy?
I'm sorry, but that viewpoint is ludicrous, but I'm sure the RIAA loves that they've wired people to feel that way. Makes their extortion much easier.
(And, yes, I do believe in paying for the music I listen to.)
Re: Obama administration: "Piracy is flat, unadulterated theft"
#29From the article: Locke then lamented the fate of songwriters. "Recently, I've had a chance to read letters from award winning writers and artists whose livelihoods have been destroyed by music piracy. One letter that stuck out for me was a guy who said the songwriting royalties he had depended on to 'be a golden parachute to fund his retirement had turned out to be a lead balloon.' This just isn't right." I don't be…
If I download the mp3 copy of a CD I own a physical copy of, am I a criminal? Did I steal from the artist? To the first question, I would say that you are guilty of copyright infringement. Compare it to buying a bootleg DVD of a DVD that you already own that was scratched and is now unplayable, or sneaking in to watch the re-release of Avatar now that you own it on Blu-Ray. To the second, no you haven't stolen anythi…
Was downloading music you already owned really illegal in the USA pre-DMCA? After all, the music company did sell you the right to listen to that music. I know it's legal in most of Europe.
Re: Obama administration: "Piracy is flat, unadulterated theft"
#30I hate it when people equate piracy with theft...it's copyright infringement, not theft. If someone breaks into my car and steals my iPod, that's theft. I, the original owner, no longer possess the item. If instead the "thief" breaks into my car and copies all of the music from my iPod (let's say that all of the songs are recordings of my band to make things simple) and posts it on several torrent trackers, that's pi…
I love it that people who simply take anything sold under terms they disagree with also demand political correctness from the rest of the world and, particularly, from the industries who they're taking things from.
Believe it or not, people don't like being called thieves, especially when they're not stealing anything.
I may be a pirate, but if US TV companies actually gave me a choice to buy their programmes with some degree of timeliness, perhaps I wouldn't need to be.