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Fighting For Downloaders' Hearts and Minds

Posted by timothy on from the dude-pirate-is-not-the-prefered-nomenclature dept.

iateyourcookies writes "As opposed to enforcement which usually makes the headlines, The BBC is running an article called Inside A Downloader's Head which looks at the film and music industries' attempts to prevent copyright infringement. It details some of the campaigns, their rationale, controversy surrounding them and notes that 'there are plenty, even among the young, who can be eloquent about why they believe illegal downloading is not wrong. These can include everything from what they see as the unacceptable "control freakery" of DRM and regional coding, to overcharging and exploitation of the very artists the music industry claims to protect.' However, PR company for the industry Blue Rubicon attests that 'campaigns can change hearts and minds... If you do them right you can make a material impact on people's behaviour.'"

2 of 325 comments (clear)

  1. Misleading Examples by Myji+Humoz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The article seems filled with examples of fuzzy logic. For example, it discusses how many "bad guys" force illegal immigrants/migrants to sell pirated DVDs on the street, thus showing an example of how innocent foreigners are harmed by the trade in illegal software/media. However... isn't this better than them being forced into being drug mules or prostitutes? Shouldn't they be trying to clarify that morality != legality rather than muddling the issue?

    I suppose it's better than RIAA's tactics, but the claims of reducing piracy by 5% seem tenuous at best.

    --
    Signatures are the new names.
  2. Civil Disobedience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Clause
    To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Disobedience_(Thoreau)
    "Resistance" also served as part of Thoreau's metaphor which compared the government to a machine, and said that when the machine was working injustice it was the duty of conscientious citizens to be "a counter friction" - that is, a resistance - "to stop the machine."

    ---

    Now, the current length for copyright seems to be 50 years or more after the death of an author. Are you fucking kidding me? How the hell is that limited in any way? The person has been dead for 49 years and his/her work still isn't public domain? What is that crap?

    The copyright should be date of publication + 20 years and I don't care if the author is a person or a corporation, nor do I care if the art in question is a song, a tune, a movie, a videogame, a tv show, a book, whatever.

    If it was published or released before 1989 then it should be public domain, no exceptions.

    In fact, the governments should have web servers so that its citizens can go download the now-public-domain things for free, in open or non-proprietary formats.