"He might even buy you a beer for giving him that movie the next time you are at the pub, you have profited from your crime. He might be you 'friend' because you give him free movies, you are profiting from that friendship by the proceeds of crime."
Do you have friend anxiety? Do you suspect that your friends are only your friends because you give them pirated movies? Neither do we. We give each other beer because we are human beings who care about each other and want our friends to be happy. Ironically, that's the same reason we give our friends copies of movies, rather than giving them strange looks and saying "I'm sorry, I can't give you this movie because you haven't paid for it. I paid for it, but only so that I could see it. If you see it too, then the entertainment industry could suffer. I think you should just go to the store and buy your own movie."
I have a stepfather who thinks that digital piracy is stealing (rather than copyright infringement). He has always been disgusted by it, because he doesn't understand how it works. I'll explain!
Digital piracy is sharing. But not like the sharing of one's toys, in which case the toy is given to one's friend and one does not have the toy any more. It is sharing in the same way that when you teach your friend a new game, it is sharing. Now you can both enjoy the game. If digital piracy was stealing, it would be different. If it was stealing, then I would be going to the toy store to steal a toy for my friend. Every single time I gave another friend a toy. The industry likes to say that digital piracy is like stealing because it plays to our sensibilities (THIEF!!!!). Not because it is rational, because it isn't. The thing that must be remembered is that digital content is much different from a toy or a game. It is digital. It can be copied. It doesn't have to be in one place at a time, and to have more than one copy, none have to be stolen. It is not like toys. I give my friend a copy of my toy, but I didn't steal it. Get it? The toy store didn't get paid for the toy. But they weren't going to get paid for the toy anyway, because I am not a customer of the toy store. If the toy store did not assume that I make 3x the income that I make, perhaps they would sell their product at a lower price. (Or maybe not - it doesn't matter, since the decision to buy the toy or not is mine, and is SEPARATE from the decision to download the toy from peers)
Example of a toy: Microsoft Office. Great example. Works great, is widely used. Costs too much. Solution? Get it for free.
The problem is a bad business model here. They are trying to sell what their custemers are giving away copies of.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Michael Doyle.
Re: Re: Re: Why it's right!
Do you have friend anxiety? Do you suspect that your friends are only your friends because you give them pirated movies? Neither do we. We give each other beer because we are human beings who care about each other and want our friends to be happy. Ironically, that's the same reason we give our friends copies of movies, rather than giving them strange looks and saying "I'm sorry, I can't give you this movie because you haven't paid for it. I paid for it, but only so that I could see it. If you see it too, then the entertainment industry could suffer. I think you should just go to the store and buy your own movie."
I have a stepfather who thinks that digital piracy is stealing (rather than copyright infringement). He has always been disgusted by it, because he doesn't understand how it works. I'll explain!
Digital piracy is sharing. But not like the sharing of one's toys, in which case the toy is given to one's friend and one does not have the toy any more. It is sharing in the same way that when you teach your friend a new game, it is sharing. Now you can both enjoy the game. If digital piracy was stealing, it would be different. If it was stealing, then I would be going to the toy store to steal a toy for my friend. Every single time I gave another friend a toy. The industry likes to say that digital piracy is like stealing because it plays to our sensibilities (THIEF!!!!). Not because it is rational, because it isn't. The thing that must be remembered is that digital content is much different from a toy or a game. It is digital. It can be copied. It doesn't have to be in one place at a time, and to have more than one copy, none have to be stolen. It is not like toys. I give my friend a copy of my toy, but I didn't steal it. Get it? The toy store didn't get paid for the toy. But they weren't going to get paid for the toy anyway, because I am not a customer of the toy store. If the toy store did not assume that I make 3x the income that I make, perhaps they would sell their product at a lower price. (Or maybe not - it doesn't matter, since the decision to buy the toy or not is mine, and is SEPARATE from the decision to download the toy from peers)
Example of a toy: Microsoft Office. Great example. Works great, is widely used. Costs too much. Solution? Get it for free.
The problem is a bad business model here. They are trying to sell what their custemers are giving away copies of.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Michael Doyle.
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