Quote:
Originally Posted by desertgrandma
so.........pirating is just buying a used book? Oh, wait, I PAID for that used book. Its legal!  Now, the book my friend gave me? SHE paid for it. At one point, someone paid for all those used books. At one point, the author did get royalties. But in the case of illegal downloads? Not one dime.......okay, ready for your next shot........... |
I don't agree with the piracy/used book analogy. The analogy fails because there is just one physical copy of that book. Data can be replicated at will without any additional cost. Which is the same problem the music industry currently faces, and the TV guys, and the movie guys.
In the digital domain, replication/multiplication occurs without significant additional investment beyond the first effort.
Here's a weird artifact of the digital age: if my TV station broadcasts a movie, I am free to record it on my VCR (I think!) for private use or, more recently, PVR. However, if I forget to schedule my VCR/PVR or just prefer to download the same broadcast from a P2P net later, I might get sued. The claim is usually that since with modern p2p protocols I upload while I download, I enable others. Of course, I have no knowledge of the situation of these others - whether or not they have the "personal" right to download this data.
Another thing, and forgive me if I stay on the TV analogy - TV usually comes with commercials. While I am free to go out and take a piss during these commercials, or talk to others, or just not pay attention, if I _cut_ these commercials before viewing it (also known as time-shifting), some people would say I am doing illegal things.