A Pirate's Life For Me

Yes, I've been gone for a while, but I'm back. I know you think that I'll probably be writing about something that is deep and spiritual for me. And you would be right...just not now. Instead, I'm going to take a look at the internet, media, and profit. Basically I'm just avoiding writing about what I've been thinking about. On to the subject.

I believe we are thinking about piracy wrong.

While I wish I was talking about the high seas and raiding local villages for plunder, I'm taking about the ideas of digital property. Interestingly enough, a recent survey suggested that the ones who pirate music illegally are also the ones who buy the most legally. Honestly, I can understand. I feel that those who really like music always want to expand their libraries of music. They may pirate music to sample it, then purchase the one's they like. I can understand not wanting to invest in something you don't know if they're any good. I appreciate this because it shows that "pirates" are not just cheap, greedy music grabbers who don't support the artists.

The thing is, however, digital property is something we don't understand. It is created material, and some ownership of that is true, but that falls more under copyright laws than protection. See, I don't believe in plagiarism as acceptable. It should never be okay to take someone's work and use it for your own gains. I should not be able to copy the direct idea from a Stephen King novel and try to sell it. That is intruding on an artist's work.

But acquiring the work is another thing entirely. The thing about digital media is that it is not a physical thing. Taking a book from Barnes and Nobel is depriving someone else of a physical, limited material. Meaning, there are only so many physical copies, and you have denied someone access to one of them. However, with digital media, there is only the information file. It costs nothing to copy the material and send it to someone. In that regards, you are not depriving anyone of anything.

I do think that there needs to be some kind of protection for this material. If all material is free, then there will be no profits for anyone. I can see this causing a lot of trouble in the videogame world. There is so much capital poured into them that there needs to be some kind of return. On the flip side, so much media is so expensive, that it is hard to come by it in a legal way that is also personally responsible. What we need, I believe, is not laws that demonize the individual, but one's that help the company. It is such a hard thing to regulate, but there should be ways to legally obtain this kind of information. We need to take time and think about how to best regulate and not to punish.

I do think it should be a crime to listen to Justin Bieber, however.

Just something to chew on.