[Gllug] Piracy.

[Jonathan Harker]

On Wednesday March 5 2003 02:40, Peter Childs meant to write:
>    If you copy a drug and then give it out on the open market (or
> sell it at cost), it will not take long for Phyzer (or whoever the
> manufacturer is) to find you and take you to court.
>    If you copy your favourite CD and start handing it out, the music
> industry will come down on you like a ton of bricks. Its seen as wrong.

Only by multinational megacorporations who have stolen the IP from the 
original author/musician/creator/whoever using rapacious "agreements", and 
the governments they bribe er I mean lobby. Musicians usually make about 8-10 
percent off each CD sold. Where does the rest go? Manufacturing and 
distribution only accounts for 10 percent.

>   So why is Computer software somehow different?

Because you're not actually removing the software from the person you're 
"stealing" or "pirating" it from. You are making a copy of it, much as people 
used to copy books by hand before the printing press, only much faster, and 
without any errors. RMS's point is that digital info removes the need for 
centralised publishers and distributors (eg. the people with printing 
presses, CD factories, etc) and the associated wasted resources (packaging, 
paper, transportation, manpower, etc).

The consequences of this paradigm change are still murky and unforseen, but 
contrary to what governments, record companies and publishers might have you 
believe, it won't spell the end of civilisation as we know it, just their 
current business model.

It may mean that musicians have to go back to making money from live gigs 
(hello there Beatles, Rolling Stones) which actually involves musical talent. 
Finally we may see the demise of this endless plastic digitally processed 
hyper-pop shite, since you can't fake good singers live (say hello, 
Sugarbabes).

Perhaps charity and the shareware idea may come back to play a greater role in 
society. "If you like this book/song/movie/poem/whatever, consider a donation 
of money/postcard/pizza voucher/whatever."

-- 
Jonathan Harker
www.jonathanharker.co.uk

All the troubles you have will pass away very quickly.


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