this is what we're all fighting 4: an article about the piracy battle

**koolyt** · 11-28-2007, 07:18 PM

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...NStory/GlobeTQ

an article from the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail, published yesterday. this guy really understands what this is all about. he refers primarily to torrenting, so i think this should stay in this section

*if u can't see the article when u follow the link, type "fear piracy" into news.google.com and click the first link.*

**slimdogp** · 11-28-2007, 07:28 PM

**xJohnxSmithx** · 11-28-2007, 07:32 PM

good read
thanks

**Defy** · 11-28-2007, 08:14 PM

Wow, that was a very good read.

While it's definitely not right that someone should have their intellectual property stolen or used without their permission—especially so that someone else can profit off of it—history teaches us that we generally stand to gain as much from piracy as we stand to lose.

Fact: The majority of Pirates (us) do not make a profit from the torrents we download. I can't speak for everyone, but I myself only use the movies, music, programs, etc. for personal use. People that sell bootleg copies of this and that deserve to be caught.

When video-cassette recorders were first introduced, the movie industry feared for its life. According to the industry, not only did VCRs destroy the movie experience by taking it from the big screen to the small one, they also enabled rampant piracy. Universal sued Sony, claiming that the company should be held liable for enabling the copyright infringement of its users. Universal lost, and the right of consumers to tape programs off of television for their own personal use was enshrined in law. Eventually, of course, the movie industry came to embrace the technology, and movie rentals wound up becoming—and remain—a major profit centre for the industry.

Fact: Can we say greedy? It always has been and always will be about money for these companies. Like they don't make enough as is.

Still, they fail to realize that the majority of society actually BUYS whatever it is they seek. We Pirates are the minority. How do they think the music, movies, programs, etc. even get ON our torrent sites anyways? That .FLAC album from Metallica sure as hell didn't pop out of thin air... someone, somewhere bought it.

Still, he believes that the movie industry is wrong in its approach
to technology. "The VCR transitioned entertainment from the theatre to people's homes," says Fung. "The Internet will bring immediate and global distribution that's cheaper than ever and is the natural next step." There's no doubt that Fung is right about that. BitTorrent technology should have been recognized immediately by the movie studios as a way to make their distribution chain more efficient. But the industry was so locked in its old business model that they allowed an entire culture of free movie-sharing to evolve with no reasonable, legal alternative.

The music industry, of course, has always been slow to embrace
new technology. Any time someone makes a technological advance, the recording industry claims that the sky is falling. They claimed that cassette tapes would kill the industry because of the ease of copying. Instead, cassettes allowed music to move into cars, portable stereos and, eventually, the Walkman. This vastly increased the number of ways that customers could consume music. The industry was also wrong about digital audio tapes, and they were certainly wrong about MP3s. While they claim that downloads are destroying the business, every indication is that they're wrong. Concert sales, ringtones and digital downloads are all on their way up. It's only CD sales that are down, and those are only down about the same amount as they were in the years following the disco bust.

Fact: Maybe I'm wrong in this aspect, but I'd rather keep doing something "illegal" than fill their money grubbing pockets with my hard earned cash. Maybe had these industries taken the stick out of their ass a long time ago things would be different, or had these musicians who make millions a year not whined and complained because people got some of their music for free... now I say they can piss right off.

**bikernin** · 11-28-2007, 08:40 PM

Defy : Totally agree with you on all counts. No one I know does this for profit. I still give students in my college copies of expensive software for free which they need for their education and just cant afford them ( Most of them cost thousands of dollars) They wouldve never bought them anyway and now they atleast know how to operate them. Plus the software owners have another professional who would want to work on their software. Thats just one example and I could give many more.
About your second point, I would like to mention group buys on some sites where people who cant afford a certain thing pool in money and BUY it and share it. I really dont see how this is doing anything but putting more money in the companies pockets.
In the end we are only adding to the popularity, sales, fan following of all the artists/companies whose material we share. Long live the file sharing community!