I suppose I might be in the minority with my point of view, but here's my take on the whole situation:
Just like many others, I've downloaded MP3s. And as long as the government was going to do nothing about it, I planned to keep doing it. But the entire time I was downloading, I said to myself, "I'm on borrowed time. This is not legal. Once the goverment gets their act together and starts to clamp down on these activities, that's it for me."
Well folks, that's it for me. I might still download here and there, but the going-on-whatever-P2P-software-and-download-like-c razy days are over for me. It's simply just not worth the risk. And there is a risk -- it's no different than everybody driving 80MPH on a highway with a speed limit of 65MPH. We all know what we are doing is against the law; it's just a matter of enforcement. If the cops suddenly said, "We are pulling over every single person we can going over the speed limit from now on," and they actually do that (i.e., every highway you go on, you see tons of people pulled over), would you continue to drive 80MPH? Or would you go 65?
And we're not just talking about a traffic ticket here. The first person they get will be nailed to the wall and made into an example. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not be that person. The reward no longer outweighs the risk. I'll wait until the CD comes out in BMG and buy it for $5. (For all those people who say CDs cost too much, sign up with BMG. I've signed up as a new member there like 15 times, and after the 12-for-1 deal, the CDs average out to $5, which is the right price for me.)
If we all want to *really* make a difference, i.e., want to keep downloading copyrighted material at no cost but bandwidth, then somebody needs to set up some kind of a movement where everyone who wants to download will sign up and keep downloading, regardless of the consequences. We need people to give up their livelihood for this right (i.e., face possible jail time). It'd be a cause, and this will be a form of civil disobedience.
Personally, I hope this will happen. I hope the government ends up arresting a couple of college kids and the whole country goes into civil disobedience mode. People of my generation (children of the 80s and beyond) have had no real cause to deal with -- no Vietnam, no WW2, etc. Perhaps this is our cause...
Don't you think it's only a matter of time until advertisers start putting commercials inside TV shows, a la The Truman Show? I never thought that movie was all that great, but I'll never forget that part where Laura Linney (Truman's "wife") starts advertising for some product right in the middle of the show. Sure, it's ridiculous, but how far are we from this? Not very if you ask me. Product placement in movies (and TV shows, I'm sure) play a huge part nowadays, and their part will only increase as time goes by.
Another thing that's related to this -- a while ago, I bought a box of Sugar Crisp cereal, and on the back there was some storyboard-like comic about how Sugar Bear was going to steal Sugar Crisps from Granny Goodwitch. Then there was some dude named Sugar Crisp Crook who was into pilfering this cereal from Sugar Bear...and the more I read, the more I realized this sounded like a TV cartoon, albeit a bad one. A quick search on Google yielded the results I'd expected -- it was indeed a part of a TV show called Linus the Lionhearted. Check out the quote on this website:
Linus the Lionhearted was created in a time when the line between commercials and programs had not yet clearly been defined.
Well, guess what...if commercials are not going to be watched, the line will once again be crossed and re-crossed. Just because we've always watched commercials for "free" TV doesn't mean it'll continue to be this way.
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My personal fav for my C-64 -- Fast Hack'em 6.0. Remember Di-Sector? Icepik? Ah, the good ol' days...
I suppose I might be in the minority with my point of view, but here's my take on the whole situation:
Just like many others, I've downloaded MP3s. And as long as the government was going to do nothing about it, I planned to keep doing it. But the entire time I was downloading, I said to myself, "I'm on borrowed time. This is not legal. Once the goverment gets their act together and starts to clamp down on these activities, that's it for me."
Well folks, that's it for me. I might still download here and there, but the going-on-whatever-P2P-software-and-download-like-c razy days are over for me. It's simply just not worth the risk. And there is a risk -- it's no different than everybody driving 80MPH on a highway with a speed limit of 65MPH. We all know what we are doing is against the law; it's just a matter of enforcement. If the cops suddenly said, "We are pulling over every single person we can going over the speed limit from now on," and they actually do that (i.e., every highway you go on, you see tons of people pulled over), would you continue to drive 80MPH? Or would you go 65?
And we're not just talking about a traffic ticket here. The first person they get will be nailed to the wall and made into an example. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not be that person. The reward no longer outweighs the risk. I'll wait until the CD comes out in BMG and buy it for $5. (For all those people who say CDs cost too much, sign up with BMG. I've signed up as a new member there like 15 times, and after the 12-for-1 deal, the CDs average out to $5, which is the right price for me.)
If we all want to *really* make a difference, i.e., want to keep downloading copyrighted material at no cost but bandwidth, then somebody needs to set up some kind of a movement where everyone who wants to download will sign up and keep downloading, regardless of the consequences. We need people to give up their livelihood for this right (i.e., face possible jail time). It'd be a cause, and this will be a form of civil disobedience.
Personally, I hope this will happen. I hope the government ends up arresting a couple of college kids and the whole country goes into civil disobedience mode. People of my generation (children of the 80s and beyond) have had no real cause to deal with -- no Vietnam, no WW2, etc. Perhaps this is our cause...
Don't you think it's only a matter of time until advertisers start putting commercials inside TV shows, a la The Truman Show? I never thought that movie was all that great, but I'll never forget that part where Laura Linney (Truman's "wife") starts advertising for some product right in the middle of the show. Sure, it's ridiculous, but how far are we from this? Not very if you ask me. Product placement in movies (and TV shows, I'm sure) play a huge part nowadays, and their part will only increase as time goes by.
Another thing that's related to this -- a while ago, I bought a box of Sugar Crisp cereal, and on the back there was some storyboard-like comic about how Sugar Bear was going to steal Sugar Crisps from Granny Goodwitch. Then there was some dude named Sugar Crisp Crook who was into pilfering this cereal from Sugar Bear...and the more I read, the more I realized this sounded like a TV cartoon, albeit a bad one. A quick search on Google yielded the results I'd expected -- it was indeed a part of a TV show called Linus the Lionhearted. Check out the quote on this website:
Well, guess what...if commercials are not going to be watched, the line will once again be crossed and re-crossed. Just because we've always watched commercials for "free" TV doesn't mean it'll continue to be this way.
- SJW