Copyright Infringement, Intellectual Property and Pirating

You bring up something here of which I have to chime in real quick.

Those who go after the sites/software that allow file trades IMO are going after the wrong people. Unless of course those sites are directly profiting off of and know the items being transferred are copyrighted.

To me it's the same as an organization going after the phone company because someone was using the phone for insider trading.

Now they say the sites should know what is being transferred. That in itself does scare me, should the phone company know the words being said through their lines?

 

Scarcity.

Oh wait. I see what you are saying. I'm not arguing what I think you are saying.

I'm not saying that the IP behind the manufacture of a car is legit because the car is physical, while the IP behind a song is not legit because it is not physical.

I'm saying neither case of IP is valid which is an even more radical position.

My wrists really hurt or I would write out a summary of my position again. If you want me to do so, PM and I will type it tomorrow.

 

Oh now that's too damn easy, I'll let you slide though

 

Should you know if a website template was stolen when you land on a site and your browser caches the css and js files?

It's endless, and it doesn't seem to have the attributes of real property, in that if someone took your car, you would know, because you would not have your car anymore. How can you possible police who records off of the radio, or who shared an MP3, or who made a mix CD for their significant other?

And how far do we take IP? Are little girls singing the latest pop song in school violating someone's license? If we're being reasonable, the answer is probably no, but if we're going by the letter of the law, then the answer is probably yes. Which makes the whole thing a really big mess.

 

Nah, I only skimmed this thread as it is. Maybe I've misunderstood people's position but it seemed like that's where some were making the distinction.

 

Har Har Har!

I was going to make a joke about needing a cracked version of Dragon Naturally Speaking, but figured that would be more trouble than it is worth.

 

I get the same thing

Mine gets so bad I have a hard time when I workout!

 

It can get bad when I sleep. I have these arm braces I wear if it gets bad enough. Keeps my wrists straight and my fingers from curling.

 

The internet is nothing but a big fantasy bubble, all things go.

 

Here is an interview with a Warez site owner.

 

I know it worked on me... A friend of mine passed me a burned copy of the Civilization game many years ago and since then I've spent at least $150 on the brand between sequels and expansions. Years later - I'm still addicted, spending too much damn time and money on the game.

I can't even add up how many CDs and concert tickets I've bought from hearing "free music."

I understand that the content producers get to have a say in how the data is used, but if they're inflexible and don't meet the demands of the market you'll have illicit behavior and a failing industry. Black markets go hand in hand with laws that don't match the economic reality

 

It doesn't matter what you think you're "entitled" too. It's up to the creator to make that decision if they want to give you a teaser or a demo. Stop trying everything desperate to rationalize what you want as some "altruistic" act of greatness of helping these producers when you know damn well you're stealing it and they don't approve. Benefiting from the work of another without their permission or properly compensating them is stealing. You guys are trying to hold up YOUR RIGHTS above the RIGHTS OF OTHERS, so you can benefit from people that set up stealing rings like the mafia.

Damn this pinko crap pisses me off.

All rights are equal, but some rights are more equal than others.

 

Absolute class!

 

lol

I love the righteous sense of outrage. You've never played a copied version of a game, recorded a song off the radio, recorded a TV show, quoted five words of an AP story, or used a TIVO to skip commercials?

These are all "stealing is stealing, period" - according to the people who'd like to take you to court if they thought they had a chance in hell of beating the Fair Use laws.

If not, it probably says more about age and access to technology than it does about any sort of morality or altruism.

 

The stealing is stealing bit is quite hypocritical, but rather than pointing that out to diminish my opponents (not saying you are), I think it just reinforces my point that there is no clear definition, understanding or practice of IP, and hence, it is not property.

Now if people took my car, you can bet damn sure we could get a consensus on that as theft.

But to steal an idea? Such a ridiculous notion.

 

Let me cut to the chase, Korr.

Is it cool to mass copy a book, put another color/jacket design on it, rename it, and sell it? Is it cool to take the content of a website, in toto, reappropriate it to another domain, put nifty new color and template to it, and profit off this?

 

No, of course its not right.

But is it wrong to record your favorite show because you're working late? Is it wrong to install a video game because your friend begs you to try it out but you aren't particularly interested in buying it at the moment?

Is it immoral and stealing if you quote five words from AP?

Black and white doesn't work. The issue is grey or else we should all be in prison or paying fines.

 

Well, then we should be clear, because these wrongs are precisely being argued as "rights," on this thread, by some.

It isn't wrong to record the show, because the producers have specifically licensed this. It is wrong to make the copy, put it in nifty packaging, and sell it.

It is wrong to install the video game without paying for your own copy. In fact, it's theft.

An excerpt from AP, with the source cited, is obviously not an attempt to steal - it isn't immoral, because you have cited the source. The relevant Fair Use provision is:

Now, you say it: it isn't black and white. It is grey. It is an imperfect system, and distinguishing a legitimate excerpt from a ripoff isn't always a breeze - as the Copyright Office itself acknowledges:

And this is what sucks about life among other people - there exists no system that perfectly optimizes every nuance of every situation that works for all of us, each and every time. We have to think, and do our best, to do what is right.

To me, for the preponderance of cases, it should be obvious: a quote with a source in a scholarly text making an argument is likely a breed apart from Guerilla's suggestion - take a website's content altogether, rebrand it via nifty new colors and template, and Presto! You're in business!

I'll tell you - a big part of my consternation over this is that it is among the most vociferous on the forum declaring how little values we have in society, who posit "individual effort" and "individual responsibility" as the zenith of a point of honor, who either do not see the disconnect in their defense of piracy, or do see the disconnect, but have no qualms about hypocrisy.

An excerpt from a PM - name and other content withheld, to preserve privacy; whose points I give a fair hearing to, but cannot in any way agree with below:

In essence, it would "take away our freedom if we stop the practice of stealing another's work." And " wouldn't have gotten as far, as quick, if I didn't steal from time to time."

Guess what? Those producers don't owe you your free education. They worked for what they produced, and so should you - unless they wish to give you a free jump up the learning curve, which I'm all for, by the way - so long as the original producers are, as well.