Skip navigation

 Login or Register | Member Centre

Don't fear the pirates

KEN HUNT

Globe and Mail Update

Latest comment posted at 11:02 PM EDT 06/03/08

Illegal downloaders of music and movies are at the forefront of technology—and it's time the industries caught up. ...Read the full article

This conversation is semi-moderated What is moderation? | How do I report a comment?

  1. Some Guy from Canada writes: LOL! Meghann Marco just gained another fan. HAHA
  2. Kevin Henning from Canada writes: I suspect there may be a few issues at play here. First of all, while I agree that in the long term the piracy may in fact help the publishing companies (I separate them from the recording industry), they do not currently seem to be following a long term vision. There are short term impacts to the profitability of the publishing companies, which in the end affect the executives (via their stock option plans and bonuses), and often the shareholders, which these days seem to be more important to those affected than the long term viability of a company (sometimes you have to spend money to make money).

    One of the things that I have also noted is a tendency to try to shut down the promotional mechanisms that can be used by an independent artist, film producer, what have you. If successful, this may have the effect of forcing more of those independents to go through the major publishing houses. Given the tendency to deal with what is currently popular and therefore generating the most revenue, it can reduce the choices available to the consumer.
  3. Gordon Murray from Canada writes: All students really need is to get the texts onto Google space before printing them out.
    "Do you have a quick delete button on your PDA for specifically those texts quite possibly copyrighted?
    Please sign our petition towards such buttons being reasonable add-ons, counter this government's repeatedly printed position."
  4. D K from Canada writes: Well this article worked. I'm looking up Meghan Marco now.
  5. Purple Tory from Alberta, Canada writes: The big movie/music cartels will not catch up. Why? Because they're too busy bribing politicians to pass draconian American-style DMCA laws. Instead of making their products available online, conveniently and without DRM, they release files that can only be used on one computer or other such arbitrary restrictions. Then, using the law they bribed politicians to pass, they start suing would-be customers who use more convenient pirated sources, and lobby to get them thrown in jail.

    Finally, they wonder why they're not making any money. Then they sue more would-be customers, bribe more politicians, and continue whining to the news media about how they aren't making any money. Rinse, repeat, retarded.

    Right now the Conservative Party is trying to pass a law like the DMCA in the United States. This law would take away your rights to copy a legally purchased CD to an iPod, something currently legal under "Fair Use", among many other things. The law is being drafted with the interests of the media cartels in mind (thanks to large CA$H donations), and will harm normal Canadians. Could you imagine having a relative serve jail time for downloading a song? That's what the Conservatives are proposing.
  6. Jan Steinman from Salt Spring Island, Canada writes: Wait a minute... doesn't a portion of the sale of cassette tapes, CD-ROMs, and DVDs already go to the publishing industry, to pay for consumer copying?

    Is it safe to assume that if consumer copying, currently legal due to the "tax" on blank media, becomes illegal under some sort of DMCA clone, that the publishing industry will give back the money they've collected on sales of blank media?

    I didn't think so.
  7. Alex Yaxmos from Canada writes: Stop the pirates that try to sell software/music/movies for a profit. Students and personal users will eventaully buy the software if they like it.
  8. Peter Paszek from London, Canada writes: WOW!
    This was truly a great read, the writer made some fantastic points.
    Kudos!
  9. TheDaveShow DotCom from Okanagan, Canada writes: To Jan Steinman, the tax on blank media only covers "personal copying for personal use." Means, the recording artists are getting paid for you being allowed to make a backup copy of your own music, or taking one track from each of eight different legally owned CDs and putting them on your own audio mix CD, or dumping all your audio CDs onto your Ipod.

    Doesn't try to pay artists for you taking your CDs and giving copies to your friends.

    I like the balance brought out in this story, but disagree that piracy has any benefits to artists. It has benefits to artists who ALLOW such copying.

    No one here would want to spend weeks and months working, say, in a garden, and let someone else eat the veggies.

    I bet no one posting here would consider going to WalMart and just pocketing stuff and walking out. It's surprising to me how many people don't see that piracy is doing just that.

    On the other hand, if shoplifting were as hard to catch as music piracy, probably more people would be doing it.
  10. K Kal from Canada writes: good point about big software like photoshop

    if the aspiring student wants to use the program to make a living, he/she will have to buy it eventually. only puts adobe out of income until the student wants to use it for making themselves money. and really thats what the program's main purpose is, to help one make a living.

    good point also about inferior software, why use some photoshop ripoff when you can use the best?

Join the Conversation, Leave a Comment

This conversation is semi-moderated What is moderation? | How do I report a comment?

You must be logged-in to submit a comment — login now!

Not registered with globeandmail.com? Register now. It is quick and free.

close

Alert us about this comment

Please let us know if this reader’s comment breaks the editor's rules and is obscene, abusive, threatening, unlawful, harassing, defamatory, profane or racially offensive by selecting the appropriate option to describe the problem.

Do not use this to complain about comments that don’t break the rules, for example those comments that you disagree with or contain spelling errors or multiple postings.

Back to top