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Hollywood's Foundations Rest on Piracy
enrico_suave writes "Wired Magazine had an interesting perspective on how Hollywood has 'pirate' roots in its history, as well as radio, cable TV, and the music industry. Is P2P any different (except for the fact that the industry being replaced has much more money and political sway than ever before)?"
This is not a troll.
How about these.
You bring your car to the garage. It gets fixed and the bill comes to some amount of money. You are expected to pay the mechanic this amount. Lets say it was all labor as well and no parts were replaced. You use your extra key and get your car back some night without paying the mechanic for the work he did. Did you just steal from him or did you just violate his right to collect the money you owe him. What is he no longer in possession of in this example? The car was always yours, you just took it back without paying the bill. If the answer is nothing then you did not steal from him although I think a court would disagree.
The following argument is a bit absurd but the point is made. Don't think about the details, think about the concept. Ignore that the charge uses $20 worth of electricity or the outlet is on the street.
Since many people claim that theft can only occur when a physical object is taken then how about electricity. Assume a city produces their own electricity via a solar grid. Say you are walking down the street. You see an outlet. You decide that you need to give your cell phone a quick charge and plug it in. You leave your cell phone there (because this is a perfect world and it won't get stolen) and it charges. When you get back there is a city employee there holding your cell phone (He unplugged it to plug his whatever in) telling you that you owe the City $20 for the electricity you used (your cell phone takes a lot of juice to charge). Did you just steal from the city or not? You didn't take anything "physical" from them.
What you steal when you download copyrighted material.
Since people say copyright material is not theft because nothing is stolen here is a short list of what is stolen when the music or movie is not obtained through legal means.
Editing costs.
Advertising costs.
Employee wages.
Script costs.
The list goes on and on.
Many people will say "Well I can just hit record on the radio and get the same thing." True, to an extent. You pay for the quality of the sound when you buy a CD. Radio does not offer the same quality. Also, every time a song is played on the radio the artist is given a set amount and is being paid. The same happens when movies are shown on TV and when you rent a DVD. It is called royalties.
Just because you think the music industry makes too much money does not give you the right to declare that your illegal activities are not theft. I personally pirate almost all my music and have recently downloaded most of the episodes of family guy. Am I a thief, absolutely. I admit it but really don't care. I only have a problem with those people who deny it.
Thank you for your time
This article is just Slashdot trying to justify movie piracy. B-b-but Hollywood's foundations rest on piracy!
There is no legal or moral justification for piracy of movies and music. I have yet to hear a valid reason.
"Sufferin' succotash."