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Wife of Harried Pirate Bay Witness Gets Buried in Internet Love
treqie writes "During the trial of pirate bay yesterday, a professor (Roger Wallis) took the witness stand. He told the court things that the prosecutors did not want to hear. The prosecutors then tried to discredit both him and his team's work in the area, as well as his title, it was a real spectacle. In the end, the judge asked if he wanted compensation for being there — he replied that he did not want anything, but they could send flowers to his wife. Many listening online heard, and began sending her flowers, from all over the world. As of this submission, the sum is over 40,000 SEK worth of flowers. There's even a Facebook group for it."
And that, my friends, is how you spur on economic recovery. With one sentence, he managed to save the floral industry in his town.
Rules of Conduct:
#1 - The DM is always right.
#2 - If the DM is wrong, see rule #1
Business is a brutal and if you are not willing to do something like Valve's Steam that gives something for giving up something I have no sympathy. Adapt to the market place and quit complaining.
I really, really doubt that there is zero loss to piracy. It goes against all I know of human nature to suggest that there are no people out there who look for ways to get something for free before they look to pay for it. Besides, there are a lot of people who simply don't believe that authors and artists deserve more than a flat fee for their work. David Pogue certainly heard from a lot of them when he complained about people pirating his work.
That said, it is credible that unauthorized copying can lead to a net gain by IP owners, with extra sales from viral spread of a work offsetting piracy losses. Certainly authors who make their books available online don't seem to suffer for it.
I don't think you appreciate how frightening Monsanto actually is. They make the *IAA look like cuddly pussycats in comparison.
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The really disheartening thing is....you didn't.
Question everything
Seriously - you may not agree with what the prosecutors are doing, you may not even like them. But it's nothing to do with their wives and families. Leave them out of it.