MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

mflood · 12-03-2007, 10:43 AM

I don't see that rationalizing is a bad thing, as long as it makes sense. I think mine does, but you're certainly welcome to disagree with it.

I'll say a little more though.

1) I agree with you. Stealing the creations of others, either physically or digitally, is wrong. As a rule, I don't do it. I will say though, that it's not NEARLY as harmful as the entertainment industry would have you believe. For example, there have been lawsuits seeking thousands and thousands of dollars for EACH song downloaded by an individual. There's simply no way a company could lose that much money via the downloading of one song, unless the individual owned his own little chinese bootleg shop. Which is ridiculous to assume.

And added to that, there's the fact that there are a couple studies out there that have suggested (not proven, but suggested) that sharing may even help copywrite holders. The idea being that the fast and ubiquitous spread of their material gives them invaluable advertising, and many users who download something might like it so much that they buy "the real thing." Again I reiterate that I do NOT think this makes it ok to steal the work, but I will definitely continue with the position that it's not nearly as bad as the major industries want us to think it is.

2) (I number my points because I'm terrible at transition sentences :P) My issue with Harry's post was not that I disagreed with him about the actual legality or morality of stealing material protected by copywrite. Rather, it was with the fact that he seemed so outraged/upset by the whole thing. Yes it's wrong, but we've all broken the law (intentionally) from time to time, and compared to other common violations (such as traffic offenses, that can put the very lives of multiple people in danger) this seems fairly minor.

Thanks for the reply though. I'm new in town, and it's nice to have people to discuss with.

12-03-2007, 10:43 AM	#8
mflood Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 14 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: Sony PRS-505	I don't see that rationalizing is a bad thing, as long as it makes sense. I think mine does, but you're certainly welcome to disagree with it. I'll say a little more though. 1) I agree with you. Stealing the creations of others, either physically or digitally, is wrong. As a rule, I don't do it. I will say though, that it's not NEARLY as harmful as the entertainment industry would have you believe. For example, there have been lawsuits seeking thousands and thousands of dollars for EACH song downloaded by an individual. There's simply no way a company could lose that much money via the downloading of one song, unless the individual owned his own little chinese bootleg shop. Which is ridiculous to assume. And added to that, there's the fact that there are a couple studies out there that have suggested (not proven, but suggested) that sharing may even help copywrite holders. The idea being that the fast and ubiquitous spread of their material gives them invaluable advertising, and many users who download something might like it so much that they buy "the real thing." Again I reiterate that I do NOT think this makes it ok to steal the work, but I will definitely continue with the position that it's not nearly as bad as the major industries want us to think it is. 2) (I number my points because I'm terrible at transition sentences :P) My issue with Harry's post was not that I disagreed with him about the actual legality or morality of stealing material protected by copywrite. Rather, it was with the fact that he seemed so outraged/upset by the whole thing. Yes it's wrong, but we've all broken the law (intentionally) from time to time, and compared to other common violations (such as traffic offenses, that can put the very lives of multiple people in danger) this seems fairly minor. Thanks for the reply though. I'm new in town, and it's nice to have people to discuss with.