First of all, thank you Elad, this was one of the most reasonable comments I
have ever seen regarding piracy and sharing and all of that. Thank you, I
feel that at least someone here understood what I was trying to say.
> Just because it is illegal doesn't mean it isn't right. Have you seen the
massive increase in surveillance lately? This is illegal too as it breaks
many of our fundamental rights and takes away our privacy and freedom of
speech!
I agree. In my place, people in power actually make some bad things legal
and... for me they are still wrong things. So, being legal is not enough to
be right. As for the spying, that is why I try to use free privacy and
security tools, and I believe everyone should do the same. Even if, in light
of last events (lavabit, silent mail, freedom hosting, etc) it becomes...
hard to believe that such a thing is possible to achieve. But I try anyway =)
> Unauthorised copying is bad, we agree with you but telling us not to share
is not. It goes against everything we stand for.
Unfortunately as you can see, many people here don't realize that
"unauthorised copying is bad". They don't get it. That is the main problem,
they say I am doing propaganda, which is the same attack RMS had to endure
over the last 30 years. I hope I can hold that long too =S
When you take it that unauthorised copying and distributing is bad, you
realise that sharing must be something else, which is what I have been saying
all along, SHARING IS GOOD! I am all pro sharing! But i believe that
"sharing" means "copying and distributing freely what was made for that
purpose". So, I am not telling people not to share. Why do they think I am
saying that? I am only saying that we should take a better approach to share,
one that actually makes use of free licenses (the same way free software
does).
> I do not "pirate", I prefer creative works which encourage sharing. As for
mainstream works, I purchase them 2nd-hand (which the giants are also trying
to abolish!) so that I don't give them money for another copy. Anybody that
restricts what I can do with something doesn't deserve my money!
I totally agree with you again!
That is the true spirit of sharing!
As for the mainstream works, I agree we need better laws and we should fight
for them. We should fight for better laws, not doing so and keep pirating
will only make things worse.
This is something I have been saying for a long time now and no one seems to
pay attention to that part (or they just claim that "it won't make a
difference", which is a poor view of things and one I do not indulge, we CAN
change things).
> I agree that we must create our own libre works that compete with their
work and I agree that we must reduce the demand for unauthorised copies of
creative works.
Again I agree.
You are maybe the first person who seems to understand what I have been
saying for the last few days... =)
> I defend unauthorised copying only because it is sharing! Nothing more!
That is the point where I actually have to say "maybe that's not entirely
right". As I have tried to explain here before, sharing can't be sharing if
you give something that puts the other person in a bad position.
You see, I believe right now that if I give someone a Windows 7 original (or
not) DVD, I am actually harming them, not helping them. The same way, if I
take a hollywood movie DVD, rip it and make it available on the internet for
everyone, I am not helping people, I am harming them. They can get into
trouble for that, they will not know of free licensed movies, they won't get
a GOOD thing, they will get a BAD thing. If you do something that has a good
intention but harm people... you are doing a bad things anyway. Right?
So... I don't think we should defend unauthorised copying as being sharing.
We should defend sharing as what it ought to be. And understand that giving
away a pirate copy of a movie is the same as giving a copy (original or not)
of a proprietary software like windows for example.
How can people on here disagree with this??
> I am certain that most of the users here are the same.
Unfortunately, it's not =S just read the replies you had in your own comment,
and you see that many people think it's all ok. And they think that the
solution would be to end copyrights. They have never really gave it a lot of
thought apparently, as it would do more harm than good. Free licenses would
also lose their power, and if someone someday did the same thing RMS did, we
would be screwed. (RMS found a way to use copyright against itself. What if
someone could also "hack" the law in that way against freedom?)
Well, this was the most interesting and refreshing comment I read here all
along, I thank you again, and I would like you to consider please, maybe my
argument is not so crazy as it seems... Maybe in a way, illegally
distributing a non free licensed content, is not sharing, and maybe it causes
more harm than help... think about please Elad =)
And thanks for this!
