Impressions: Piracy gets its due
In August 2004 Dreamworks SKG shot off an email to PirateBay telling them that what they were doing was a violation of the copyright act and threatened legal action.
The reply from PirateBay was short: they reminded them that what they were doing were not a violation of Swedish laws, and that they would sue Dreamworks for harassment if the further emails were sent. Then they politely asked them to **** themselves.
Earlier today, the 17th of April 2009, a Swedish court sentenced the founders of ThePirateBay.org to one year in prison and $3.6 million in damages to copyright holders like Dreamworks.
Guess who had the last laugh.
PirateBay constantly justified themselves saying that they did not directly provide downloads to any files whatsoever, they were just, uh, maintaining a list of computers where you can find possibly copyrighted stuff.
That’s like saying that you were selling Marijuana to kids on the block but all the while you thought that were using it for medicinal purposes.
Really mature guys.
Someone spends millions creating a movie, designing a game, months writing a book, tries to make money out of the talent that they have and these losers come along and start to patronize everyone and tell people the evils of copyrighting.
You can make your millions by forming a company in a garage but you have no right to make money out of your talent. Singing for money? Good heavens! What will they think of next?
Self righteous asses.
How would you like to make a Jurassic Park and sell it for free? I feel that people who pirate are people who have no talent and worse, no self respect.
The irony is that education and awareness have no effect on piracy. I have had a colleague preach to me about the evils of copyrights and how every man should have access to all the media he wants… for free.
Stephen King spends a year or more writing a single book only to find it being sold for 50 rupees on the sidewalks in Bangalore. Low cost reprinting of course. To top it all off, you will find a cop standing a few feet away seemingly oblivious to the fact that a crime was being perpetrated right next to him. For his oversight, he would probably be rewarded with a hundred bucks at the end of the week.
The world is moving right along.
Do the right thing. Don’t encourage piracy. It kills the talent.
Alex
Oh snap Piratebay sold to another company to pay off the fine and millions of other torrent tracker websites are up and healthy. Maybe media companies move to a new technology rather than sit on the same basic stuff for decades and expect it to continue producing revenue.
Evo,
I agree that media companies should consider new distribution modes. A CD is so passe these days. Distribution stores like iTunes is a start but not enough, specially in countries like India where there is NO online distribution of songs. You cant buy music online. Go figure!
But that doesn't justify the piracy. It is a very myopic way of looking at things.
That's like saying that just because your company didn't pay you this month's salary its OK to rob a bank.