BSA Tries To Exploit Somali Piracy News In PR Campaign Against Software Sharing
from the great-moments-in-dumb-marketing-campaigns dept
We already wrote about how ridiculous it is to compare Somali high seas pirates with music, movie and software fans downloading an unauthorized copy of something off the internet -- and even the press is starting to question the wisdom of calling unauthorized file sharing "piracy." Yet, that hasn't stopped the BSA, masters of misleading through questionable stats from ramping up a marketing campaign that purposely tries to compare software file sharers with Somali pirates. As Gordon Haff at News.com notes:"This has got to be one of the most tone-deaf and cynically opportunistic PR pitches I've seen for quite some time. It's one thing to figuratively equate piracy with making digital copies of software, music, movies, or books. We can debate endlessly whether such actions are truly stealing or not. But that's not the point. It's that to literally and deliberately equate the two in the wake of pirates taking a ship's crew hostage and the US Navy subsequently killing three of the attackers...Well, words fail me."
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Filed Under: exploitation, pirates, somali
Companies: bsa
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Re:
Thus, logically, if there are American children starving in America who cannot be fed on several dollars a day, then let's ship them to that cheap food 3rd world country so they can be fed.
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Yep, here's the article I read on it. Sounds like they're desperate and everyone is turning a blind eye to the real problem. I imagine if I were in their shoes, I'd do the exact same thing since I'm not going to quietly let my family die in starvation to uphold international peace, especially if my entire community is dying as well.
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Dumb BSA
Have a look:
http://techdirt.com/article.php?sid=20081119/1256502889#c285
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Re: stupid comment
Are you trolling again, my friend? Not surprising you'd take Big Media's side again no matter what, now is it?
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Re: Re: stupid comment
That is just somebody making fun of Harold since Harold is not currently here acting as flamebait.
I found the post to be kind of funny.
It was not as serious (aka stupid) as Harold's posts.
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Sounds like a great idea for the BSA to sign on to, but I doubt they'll get any new customers.
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Where the Internet is called “Somalia of unregulated theft and piracy” by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
I say we do change the name from piracy. I say we start calling it copyright infringement.
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That would be logical. And since when have the BSA, RIAA or any of their ilk done anything even remotely logical?
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Somali Pirates
Perhaps it's time to change the law? Revisit and DCMA in the reality of 2009? How does DCMA protect the people of this country? The children?
DCMA seems to do the opposite.
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Poor PR
Apparently you missed the republican echo machine calling obama a socialist for raising the top marginal tax rate 3% LOL.
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Re: Poor PR
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Pirates
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The original BSA email
My comment wasn't about the campaign site itself--typically over-the-top though it may be. Rather, I was commenting on the email that the BSA's PR firm sent me that started off: "We've all been following the events of the past week of the pirates off the Horn of Africa. Piracy takes many forms, some more violent than others. I wanted to let you know that the Business Software Alliance is launching a new campaign today "Faces of Internet Piracy" that shows the real-life impact of software piracy--from hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines to jail time."
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Re: The original BSA email
Good work.
=)
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Re: The original BSA email
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That kind of ruins the whole thing for me. Kind of like finding out that the easter bunny in fact, does not exist.
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Though I never say arr..
Nor do I download things illegally.
But I still have the funny hats!
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PR suicide
Oh, and it gets better, check this disclaimer at the bottom of their campaign webpage: "* These individuals are not actors. "
I wonder how many of these individuals supposedly consented to having images of themselves being accused software pirates on their homepage?
I smell a lawsuit.
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Name Change
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Why is the BSA involved?
...what do you mean, not that BSA?... Oh...
Never mind...
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Re: Why is the BSA involved?
/be prepared
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movie 'piracy'
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092546/
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Role Reversal
Who are the pirates again?
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Piracy
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Re: Piracy
It cost money to buy weapons and ammo.
Money which we as Americans pay as taxes.
Everything costs money. Buying a computer costs money. Paying for electricity costs money. Keeping a computer on and seeding costs money.
So yes, thank you for pointing out that developing software costs money. So does everything else.
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Re: Re: Piracy
BTW, that was the sound of the joke going over your head, not an expensive attack helicopter chasing the pirates.
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Piracy by Chris Wright
Funny to see this strip coming to reality.
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BSA
for their lobbying paper to back the EU Data Retention Directive. People were asking "what's BSA got to do with lobbying for data retention"... As they say, duh. Latching on to Somali pirates should come as no excuse to anyone.
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My 2c
http://www.stevefoolery.com
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Re: My 2c
while it's not out and out 'bot generated spam, there's zero contribution to any conversation in linking to one's own site in search of eyeballs.
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Call it what you will, but if you do it, you are a CRIMINAL.
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In very few cases is copyright infringement a criminal offense and that's why we argue the use of the word "theft" in relation to the common teenager downloading songs for his/her iPod. The likelihood is that they are not criminals but rather breaking a civil law. None of the RIAA cases will end up on someone's criminal record but they might make it on their credit report. So while the copyright infringement done by the average person may be morally wrong it is not criminal. So nope, not a criminal if you do it, guilty of copyright violation? Possibly.
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Right.... that's why you started your pitch off with:
"We've all been following the events of the past week of the pirates off the Horn of Africa."
Talk about tone deaf.
To compare the two is just ridiculous and exploitive.
Our pitch to reporters said, Piracy takes many forms, and here is one form that bears more attention
Again, that's comparing the two. I mean, it's your own damn words comparing the two. If you don't see the incredible difference between the two, you guys are really, really confused.
Downloading or purchasing software from unauthorized sources is not an abstract problem; it creates real risks for consumers and for those trying to make an illegal profit
Uh huh. And yet you guys ignore all of the points we've raised on a regular basis. I'm sorry, but the BSA has no credibility on this issue. For years you've lied and falsified your claims, exaggerating the extent of the problem, ignoring any counter points altogether.
And then you compare file sharing to real piracy. It's really sickening.
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