fredag den 4. marts 2011

Piracy. Theft or sharing?

I want to talk about an already very debated topic, but maybe with a little different angle on it.
Everyone knows that piracy is illegal due to the copyright law, stating that the creator/owner of a certain product owns all rights of it. Fair enough.
There's some things about how the media talk about digital piracy that I really don't like. Everyone knows that digital piracy is happening and that it's practically impossible to stop.

A very well-known phrase used by the media is "Piracy is theft". I wouldn't say so, piracy isn't theft.
The creater of the game "Minecraft" recently gave a very good explanation of this:

“If you steal a car, the original is lost. If you copy a game, there are simply more of them in the world.” - Notch


I agree in every way of this. Another well-known "fact" is that a pirated copy of something is equal to a lost sale, also wrong (in my opinion). That would be the exact same as saying that a bad review or a missed shipment is a lost sale. Most of the people who pirates digital content wouldn't have bought the product anyway, digital piracy has sometimes proven that a "sneak peak" of the product could lead to buying is afterwards.

What I want to say with all this, is that I think we should try to focus on the positive sides of piracy for a bit. It has more or less become a fact that we can't stop piracy, no matter how much we might try. Then why not try to take advantage of it instead? Use the common piracy techniques (like torrents etc. etc.) for legal use too. Take advantage of these systems. Begin to make more open source products with donation opportunities. Make products cheaper, and don't use a ton of money on copy protection. Minecraft is a very good example, only about 30% has bought the game, and the owner, "Notch", is more than happy since he's made millions and millions.

23 kommentarer:

  1. I love the minecraft crater quote.

    SvarSlet
  2. ^ but i think that a pirated copy is a lost sale... There are trials made for the purpose of that "Sneak peak"

    SvarSlet
  3. I am a CD buyer for several years and also think it's stealing.

    Radiohead made the best out of it.

    SvarSlet
  4. Knowlodge/Intelect shoulnt never be propiety. Or else everything we know should be paid. So I am in favor of piracy. DOn't care it it's theft or sharing. I AM IN FAVOR.

    SvarSlet
  5. I can see how piracy would be a lot better than trials, as I often find, trials always bug you to buy it and don't have all the trials, and I have very often been tempted to pirate something when a trial has about 10% of the features and pisses me off every 30 seconds with reminders to buy it

    SvarSlet
  6. You should read the book Free by Chris Anderson. It expands on some ideas you talk about here...

    SvarSlet
  7. Let's stop finding these silly flawed analogies from the real world to piracy, like theft. Fact is, piracy is a digital age phenomenon that has no preexisting precedent and thus should be judged completely separately.

    SvarSlet
  8. wow that's is so cool. followed =] follow back please
    http://pokemonpokedexfacts.blogspot.com/

    SvarSlet
  9. couldn't agree with you more. also i don't even really agree with the whole concept of intellectual property. art belongs to the people, i say. following.

    SvarSlet
  10. Haagen Daaz is the best Ice Cream evar

    SvarSlet
  11. The minecraft creator put it well. I buy my CDs, but only if I really want one and know beforehand that it's good (listening to it on youtube).

    SvarSlet
  12. I definitely agree with that quote! awesome post! following!

    SvarSlet
  13. Piracy will keep on going until the industry makes legitimate purchases easy and cost-effective enough to stop pirating. It's as simple as that!

    SvarSlet
  14. Denne kommentar er fjernet af en blogadministrator.

    SvarSlet
  15. I agree with the view that putting tons of money into DRM or other idiotic protection is a lost cause because pirates always will find a way to brake the protection so why bother.

    ____________
    Following :)

    SvarSlet
  16. great quote of the minecraft guy

    SvarSlet
  17. Thank you for the thought provoking post.

    I can't say I support the 'why bother' argument. It basically says, criminals will always find a way to do X so why bother? Why bother with locks, security cameras, etc.

    I also can't completely agree with the belief that knowledge and ideas can't be owned. I believe the concept of copyright protection is good, the innovator/inventor should have a right to make a living off their novel new thingamajig. The system that exists today is corrupt though. Copyright RENEWAL is wrong and only retards progress.

    SvarSlet