[sclug] Cheap'n'nasty Tesco Linux machines

[Pete]

--- Dickon Hood <sclug at splurge.fluff.org> wrote:
> Is it not morally and ethically right to allow the
> entity which spent
> those resources some mechanism to recover those
> costs?  Surely it isn't
> ethical to deny a writer or a filmmaker the fruits
> of their labour?

That's the way the old system worked, yes. But that's
no guarantee that things will always be that way.

> There wouldn't be much left of the entertainment
> industries left if not.

Industries change. To quote a popular example, the
blacksmithing industry changed a lot once people
stopped using horses as a primary means of
transportation.

The entertainment industry is overcrowded. The reason
why people don't feel obliged to compensate the
directors of the music and film companies (oh, and
don't forget that the artists and filmmakers get their
1% too) is that the supply is copious. There are so
many films and albums coming out, people consider them
to be worthless. If you were in a room with ten
million chocolate bars, you'd be much more likely to
steal one than if you were in a room with two
chocolate bars.

Pete


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