In this the MPAA is quite correct; the issue of pirating music on gnutella, napster and so on is primarily an ethical one. People on this site like to pretend they are socking it to 'The Man', and that the issue is financial, and that the only people being harmed are the mulyinational recording companies (never mind the millions of small shareholders who have investments in them, ordinary people like you and I).
However, there is one small point missed here. That is hogwash.
The people most harmed are the musicians. When you pirate music, you are stealing from the artist who slaved to create it for you. Gnutella and Napster are theft on a huge and organised scale.
The fact that millions of ordinary Americans engage in this theft is no excuse - ethically and legally, it is wrong.
I have some friends in the recording industry here in Nova Scotia, who strive to make good folk music in the Scottish tradition. They sing in Gaelic. They are affected by napster, because it is a small market for such things. They can barely support themselves as it is, and are only kept afloat by sales of albums.
The final irony here is that the spread of napster and gnutella, and unauthorised piracy generally, would mean the collapse of such small outfits and an increase in musical homogenousness.
For the sake of variety and the small artist, I am on the side of the MPAA in this matter, for once.
As much as people like to think that Microsoft is a behemoth driven only by profit, the simple fact is that it does have an ethical position, and is driven by morals very fundamentally.
The reason for this is that MS is nothing more than the sum of its employees, being an Intellectual Property company.
The reason we all take jobs and the reason we all do anything at all is because of ethics. Its about duty, honour and responsibility.
The ethics of the MS employees will be expressed by the company as a whole at an emergent level.
I would hazard as follows: It is perfectly ok to spread FUD, to embrace and extend one's competitors, because that is what one's competitors would do to you. However, the GPL is an Ethical step too far, even for MS. Despite the fact that the GPL is itself designed to embrace and extend, MS is not about to start using GPL'ed code, not just because it is legally shady, but because it is wrong.
I have studied many organisations, commercial and otherwise, and what I say is true, as far as I can ascertain. Ethics is the driving force of any company, and though those ethicvs may leave much to be desired, they are still present.
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I find your selfish sttitude - 'I like it, fuck everybody else' - absolutely shocking, and it epitomises what is wrong with the modern world.
However, there is one small point missed here. That is hogwash.
The people most harmed are the musicians. When you pirate music, you are stealing from the artist who slaved to create it for you. Gnutella and Napster are theft on a huge and organised scale.
The fact that millions of ordinary Americans engage in this theft is no excuse - ethically and legally, it is wrong.
I have some friends in the recording industry here in Nova Scotia, who strive to make good folk music in the Scottish tradition. They sing in Gaelic. They are affected by napster, because it is a small market for such things. They can barely support themselves as it is, and are only kept afloat by sales of albums.
The final irony here is that the spread of napster and gnutella, and unauthorised piracy generally, would mean the collapse of such small outfits and an increase in musical homogenousness.
For the sake of variety and the small artist, I am on the side of the MPAA in this matter, for once.
If you think I am a troll, remember this:
All great truths begin as blasphemies.
-George Bernard Shaw, Annajanska.(1919)
The reason for this is that MS is nothing more than the sum of its employees, being an Intellectual Property company.
The reason we all take jobs and the reason we all do anything at all is because of ethics. Its about duty, honour and responsibility.
The ethics of the MS employees will be expressed by the company as a whole at an emergent level.
I would hazard as follows: It is perfectly ok to spread FUD, to embrace and extend one's competitors, because that is what one's competitors would do to you. However, the GPL is an Ethical step too far, even for MS. Despite the fact that the GPL is itself designed to embrace and extend, MS is not about to start using GPL'ed code, not just because it is legally shady, but because it is wrong.
I have studied many organisations, commercial and otherwise, and what I say is true, as far as I can ascertain. Ethics is the driving force of any company, and though those ethicvs may leave much to be desired, they are still present.
Stealing the GPL is too much for MS.