In this discussion of free culture there's an important distinction that's getting lost. It's the same as the distinction between Free Software Author and Warez Puppy. To give away your own creative efforts is striking a blow for freedom. To make use of someone else's without permission only strengthens proprietary IP by increasing its mindshare.
Donald Marti's Linuxmanship article makes the initially counter-intuitive point that one of the best ways to promote free software (and by extension, free culture) is to make sure the "owners" of proprietary software get every penny they think they deserve. Free IP begins to look far more attractive when compared to proprietary IP that actually has to be paid for.
What I'm thinking is that he would probably quote a significantly lower figure if you asked the same question today and lower still if you asked again 5 years from now.
The site owner gets a penny for each banner ad impression. Every time you follow a misleading link and get porn ads instead, he makes money. Every time you follow a misleading link and cast a vote for the site on T50 or T100, the site rises in the ranks, attracts more traffic and the owner makes money.
My time is now worth $20 an hour. If I add up the time I'd be likely to spend finding and downloading something that works and that I wanted enough to consider paying cash for, I don't even bother with warez sitez for anything under $200.
If I remember correctly, the use or posession of hard encryption software is illegal in France and a couple of other European countries. I once saw a t-shirt with the RSA algorithm printed on the front and a list of countries where the shirt was illegal on the back. DeCSS t-shirts, anyone?
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Donald Marti's Linuxmanship article makes the initially counter-intuitive point that one of the best ways to promote free software (and by extension, free culture) is to make sure the "owners" of proprietary software get every penny they think they deserve. Free IP begins to look far more attractive when compared to proprietary IP that actually has to be paid for.
Pakistan's been reading the Superpower HOWTO backwards. Feed At Least Half Your People comes before Have Nuclear Weapons!
What I'm thinking is that he would probably quote a significantly lower figure if you asked the same question today and lower still if you asked again 5 years from now.
Well, yes... After they find it, they stop looking.
The site owner gets a penny for each banner ad
impression. Every time you follow a misleading
link and get porn ads instead, he makes money.
Every time you follow a misleading link and cast
a vote for the site on T50 or T100, the site
rises in the ranks, attracts more traffic and
the owner makes money.
My time is now worth $20 an hour. If I add up the
time I'd be likely to spend finding and
downloading something that works and that I
wanted enough to consider paying cash for, I
don't even bother with warez sitez for anything
under $200.
If I remember correctly, the use or posession of hard encryption software is illegal in France and a couple of other European countries. I once saw a t-shirt with the RSA algorithm printed on the front and a list of countries where the shirt was illegal on the back. DeCSS t-shirts, anyone?