Quote:
Originally Posted by spellbanisher
My point was not to equate pirating ebooks with the pharmaceutical situation, although that is how it appeared. I was just noting how extreme people can be when it comes to the principle of property, often choosing defending their property rights over human life.
I always find it amusing when western companies complain about bootlegging and pirating in third world countries. The "estimated losses to piracy" are always a complete joke because most of the people in third world countries would never be able to afford these companies movies or music or books. The fact is, bootlegging actually provides jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities for hundreds of thousands of extremely impoverished people in the third world. I know its terrible because the original creators aren't seeing a dime of that money, but when you and your family are starving your gonna do whatever it takes to survive.
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No argument with that here. We had local Iraqis on-base with their own shops that sold bootleg movies to us while I was deployed there. $2 per DVD and they had EVERYTHING; wall shelves full of single DVDs, boxsets of entire multi-season runs of tv series, EVERYTHING. If it came out in the theater it would end up on bootlegged DVD on base within a few days of hitting the theaters in the USA. I'm not ashamed at all to say I bought my share of DVDs and boxed sets. These guys were making a buck to feed their families (for the most part, some were more shady but we won't talk about that) and we got a bit of home by watching movies brand new and old, even if the new stuff was mostly crappy "camera-smuggled-into-the-theater" copies.
The Base leadeship knew about it, hell they shopped in these little stores too. It helped with building a rapport with the locals (which is ALWAYS helpful when a lot of locals want you dead) and everyone got something out of it.
But yes, while I get your point, going back to the original point of this thread, I simply disagree with most of what the OP had to say and I certainly still think his lack of willingness to admit what he does for a living (aside from his incredibly cryptic and more than a little haughty "a little of this and a little of that" non-answer) gives the overall impression that he is young and unemployed (likely spoiled) and simply wants things for free; if he can wax philosophical and try to sound enlightened doing it (albeit poorly), then so be it.