The Pirate Bay's Peter Sunde: It's evolution, stupid

If we were talking about rival goods, you'd be right. But we're talking about digital information here. You don't remove it from where you get it. So if your only alternative is (illegal) copying vs abstinence, then I see little reason to restrain yourself.

Furthermore, I think it is unethical to forbid the use of, say, The Pirate Bay for copying stuff you couldn't have obtained otherwise. Because it makes you poorer for no benefit at all for the copyright holders.

First of all, I resent your assumptions and insinuations. Self-righteous rhetoric like that sounds appealing to the listener, but it doesn't really add any rational weight to your arguments. Contrary to what you imply, I do buy the music I like, whenever I can find an outlet that satisfies my conditions. I could just go on listening to that stuff on YouTube and even pirate it down do MP3 from there, but I try my best to find a way to buy it. Occasionally, I succeed in that. Does that make me one of those "cool guys" you're talking about? Or am I still one of those who "don't give a fuck", according to your admittedly anectodal evidence you used in your own moral rhetoric?

Anyway, yes, I feel justified pirating stuff that doesn't meet those demands, because -- contrary to what you claim -- those demands are not arbitrary. Almost all of those demands are there to protect my rights, the ones the industry insists on denying.

The demand #2 protects the same rights you enjoy when you drive the car of your own choosing on a road. Having to use a proprietary application to purchase a song is pretty much like being told you are allowed to drive only a Honda along the Route 66.

Demands #4 and #5 are there to ensure that I can listen to the songs I bought with my money, songs that I have a right to listen to, with as few restrictions as possible. I'm pretty sure someone could offer to sell you a hairdryer that works every day except on Fridays, but I'm also pretty sure you wouldn't buy it unless you had no other choice.

Demand #6 is there to cut through the arbitrary bullshit imposed by the industry. I could wrap my mind around export restrictions on crypto that used to be in place before, but applying similar logic to music should be unacceptable. It's as if you were granted the right to be called by your own name only in certain countries; in the rest, people will just have to point fingers at you.

I admit that demands #1 and #3 are just there to ensure a comfortable experience. Without them, things are perfectly fine, as long as I don't mind having to go buy useless physical media or finding it anywhere between hard and impossible to find music that I like in case my taste doesn't conform to that of the mainstream masses.

I'm aware that you could find flaws in most of the analogies I used above and that most of them boil down to "Yes, but these are not physical objects we talk about, it's digital stuff that can be copied endlessly, without degradation." See, that is why we're talking about evolution here and why the industry is shitting bricks. The only thing I can say on that topic is that it's not really my problem as a customer. People who ask me "how would you fix the problem, then?" are missing the point: it doesn't take a doctor to point out that someone is bleeding to death. Right now, things are bad and there's no reason not to point it out, even if you don't have a solution.

I believe my demands are reasonable. In the end, it doesn't matter much. This is, and has always been, a power struggle. It's naive to claim that this is about artists and paint it morally right or wrong. But let's pretend that it is, just for a moment. How come nobody applies to artists the same argument on which I called BS? How come nobody says "Well, then, artists should stop signing contracts with companies that keep pissing off all these people?" Why do you expect consumers to vote with their wallets -- when they can't, due to collusion in the industry -- but not the artists to vote with their feet?

If the answer is "pirates are breaking the law and the industry and artists are not", that's just legality. I've already said that piracy is illegal and nothing short of a change in laws will change that. It also used to be legal to deny rights to women and people of certain races. My point is that I feel that my rights and my freedom are being denied. Not essential, fundamental rights and freedoms. As a matter of fact, some of the rights I'm talking didn't even exist before technology enabled them to exist. That's no argument that invalidates those rights.

Think about it: we're the consumers, it's our money that the industry thrives on. Damn straight we have demands.

The only issue with piracy isn't the motive of the pirate - it's whether it damages the industry, and studies regularly show it doesn't. In fact a) the biggest pirates tend to spend more, and b) isn't it about time we found ways of rewarding creators that didn't involve artificial scarcity?

We're heading for a time when we can deliver all of human culture to everyone and the only thing stopping us is that some people want to rent-seek.

On your other point, I wouldn't advise anyone to pay for the Pirate Bay because payment identifies the payee. There's a significant chance it would be considered illegal and records seized by the US, leading to huge fines, extradition and prison. That alone would deter me.