Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Did you see the interview with one of the founders of "The Pirate Bay" on last night's BBC News, Moejoe?
Quote: "I don't care about the law. If I see something I want, I take it. Because I can."
That doesn't strike me as the attitude of a "rock star"; more the attitude of a spoiled kid (and three of them are just kids) who has never had to learn the realities of life: that you can't have everything that you want, instantly. That you have to work and save up your money and BUY stuff that you want.
These are not "heroes". They're a group of kids who want "to get free stuff". And now they've learned that there are consequences to their actions, and that they are not "above the law", as they so obviously consider themselves to be. Perhaps, after their prison sentences, they'll grow up a bit and learn that you can't take whatever you want, just because you "can".
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Didn't see the report at all, but that "I can do whatever I want" attitude is the epitome of the Rock Star and has been for at least fifty years. Throwing TV's out of hotel room's, trashing said hotel rooms, Christ, if you think what they're doing is bad, read Iggy Pop or Jim Morrison's biography and the Piratebay people pale in comparison. If you're looking for a more political edge to what they're doing then they're probably more nihilistic anarchists, akin to the Punk and Hardcore ethos of the late 70's early 80's.
In any case, it's not really what "We" think that matters, but what those who follow them think, and that includes a lot of creators too who are seeing opportunity in all this, who are excited by the challenge being presented to the old systems. Everything changes, I suppose it's up to each individual to embrace or reject that change.
EDIT: Oh, and Harry, what I'm really interested in is what you think can be done to stop all this sharing? Is there, in your opinion, any way that it can be stopped?
EDIT 2: And they may not be "heroes" to you, but they are to a lot of sharers. When they stand up and flick the V's to the big companies, whether that's in their amusing replies to lawyers, or interviews, they're reflecting the rebellion of many ordinary people who are fed up and thought they were powerless to affect a change. Now they discover they can make that change in a very simple way, by downloading.