Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Bootleg Movies for Download

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the here-comes-the-man dept.

Druppy writes "I just got an email about this article in our local paper here in Santa Cruz. It's basically about illegal copies of movies like The Matrix being moved over campus lines. Needless to say since my school was mentioned 4-5 times in the article the administration is starting to crack down. " So are people sneaking cam corders in to movie theaters now? I get nervous just trying to sneak in a candy bar.

1 of 279 comments (clear)

  1. Pirated movies, ethics, and Linux by Jeffrey+Baker · · Score: 5
    If i get flamed to death, so be it.

    I am really angry that none of you seem to have a problem with the distribution of these pirated films. Anyone who is involved in trading these wares is

    1. A criminal in most jurisdictions
    2. A threat to free software

    The only thing that protects free software from being undermined by greedy proprietary software makers is the GPL and other licenses under which free software is released. These licenses protect the openness of our projects and also are the reason why we can claim the moral high ground. The open source revolution, part of a larger backlash against proprietary information, is founded in its software licenses.

    Because of this, all of us would be justifiably tweaked if part of the Linux kernel was lifted and included in a proprietary software product. We would rant on about how they had violated our license. We would call for the offending company's figurative head, a revocation of their charter, monetary damages, criminal prosecution, and multiple types of medieval torture. And we would be right, because the copyright an open source product is sacred.

    But many of those self-same potential indignant open software boosters are here bragging about the magnitude of their stolen film collection. Let me say for better effect.

    Stolen

    None of us has any justification for stealing these films from their owners: the studio which holds the copyright. They alone can, unilaterally and arbitrarily, set the conditions under which their product can be distributed and consumed. If we violate their copyright, we might as well discard the GPL, because it will be clear to everyone else that we don't really take the issue seriously.

    Through my amazing future prediction ability, and a small Perl script, I can predict the rebuttals that will come from the skript kiddie crowd. I will now answer them.

    skript kiddie: "But, the movie theaters are operated by The Man!"

    jwb: Don't patronize them.

    skript kiddie: "Most people go to movies after watching the pirated film."

    jwb: Is this a reasonable statement: "While Microsoft acknowledges having stolen Linux kernel code, it pledges that most of the affected products will eventually be released under a similar license."? No, it clearly is not.

    skript kiddie: "Movies are too expensive."

    jwb: Don't attend them, and The Man will get the point. Better still, build your own studio, theater, and marketing machine and charge less for the movies you make.