> Jessica Zafra > > Does anyone else find it funny that people who make much more money > than we do are appealing to us not to deprive them of their income? > You have the nerve to charge me P450 for a CD that is being sold on > the street for P60 and you expect my sympathy? The campaign against > pirated software, CD's, VCD's, audio and cassettes, would have us > believe that piracy is our problem. Really? How is shelling out P100 > for a disc that contains P50,000 worth of software a problem for me? > It would seem that the pirates are doing me, and my shrinking wallet > a big favor. Why should it bother me that a movie which has not yet > opened in Metro Manila theatres is being peddled on VCD on Ayala > Avenue for P90? I have no fights with the pirates. > They are selling me information I might otherwise not have access to > because of prohibitive costs. Yes they are thieves and thieves should > be punished, but they are not stealing from me. Oh sure, you can > lecture me about in the long run I will pay for buying bootleg but by > then I will have used the information for my benefit. > So let me make a correction. Piracy is the problem of the > manufacturers-- the software houses, record companies, and motion > picture companies -- whom I shall refer to from hereon as the > corporations. By telling us not to buy pirated materials "for the good > of everyone", corporations make it appear that corporate interest s and > the public interest are the same thing. This is unlaughably untrue > . Corporations makes noise about working in the public interest -- the > se noises are called public realtions, PR -- but their duty is to their > owners. The anti-piracy ads, which their appeals to my virtue, pass > the responsibility of combating piracy to me. HELLO. They invoke the > law and call on my conscience to protect their profit margin, but when > I shell out P450 for a CD that turns out to be crap, I can't invoke the > law, and corporations have no conscience. > We may all be equal under the law, but they have the best lawyers. I > guess their complaints are valid because they stand to lose more > money, while I'm just a sucker who bought the promotional hype. The > anti-piracy campaign says that when we buy unauthorized copies a.k.a. > bootleg we are stealing from the creators of the music, movies or > computer programs. This would be the case if the proceeds of the > sales went to artist themselves. We know that the artists get a small > royalty; most of the money goes to the corporations. They profit from > the work of the artists dry. Their excuses is for a small royalty, they > can suck the artists dry. Their excuse is that they spent vast sums of > money on the marketing of the artists' work. In short, the season > "originals" cost so much is because the huge marketing > expenses are passed on to us. Why should we finance the ridiculous > costs of hype? When you buy bootleg, you deny the artist a couple of > bucks but you stick it to the corporation, which is so rich it won't > even say ouch. I find it hard to summon up any sympathy for a multi- > million dollar entity that does business in 100 countries. Awww, the > poor corporations, their executives won't be buying personal Lear jets > this quarter. Buying bootleg has a Robin Hood appeal; Rob the rich to > give the poor, meaning you. It's the opposite of jueteng,in which robs > the poor in order to give to the rich. The corporations are laying a > massive guilt trip on consumers when they should be > working to make their products less easy to steal. With the technology > we have, it is extremely to make high-quality copies of anything. In > the past we worried that the bootleg goods could damage our lectronic > equipment; today's fake CD's are almost exactly like the originals. > While the corporations are piracy-proofing their wares, maybe they > should cut us a break and drop their prices. The pirates have shown > that it is possible to make CD's cheaper. Take the hint, and spare us > the sob stories about high marketing costs and your dwindling > profits. I don't buy pirated software -- not just because pirates don't > usually do Mac programs but because I love my Mac. But I cannot tell PC > users not to buy bootleg software when it costs one-fiftieth the price > of the original. Caveat emptor, naturally, and the fake software may > cause their PC's to crash but PC's do that anyway. Hey doesn't the idea > of killing Bill Gates of .0000000000000000(add more zeroes)1 of his > income appeal to you? Look at him, the guy's rolling in money, but he > won't spend for a proper haircut. Besides, If you really want to > quibble over it, didn't Bill Gates and Steve Jobs bo rrow information > form the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center? Cut the crap, and stop > appealing in my good nature. It is not my job to > protect your interests. The pirates are sleazy, but they have nadverte > ntly raised the possibility of a future in which the artists reaches > her audience directly, without a corporate middleman. Think of a > future in which you profit from your ideas. Not bloody likely right but > it's a good thought.---------------------------------------------- > -----------------------
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