Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Sledge" data-source="post: 1546394" data-attributes="member: 9324">Something just occurred to me... to be fair it is 2AM so I'm not sure how coherent this will be.The problem with &quot;Piracy&quot; is one of ethics.&nbsp; Not of whether piracy is right or wrong, but instead the understanding of electronic information which can be copied without changing the original.&nbsp; We are still thinking in terms of the physical world.&nbsp; However the copying issue has no physical implications.&nbsp; We have games companies and record companies and book companies trying to tell us what we can do with their hardware.&nbsp; There was even a debate at one point whether playing a game and creating your own resources for it would result in the game creator owning all you do.&nbsp; A copyright holder may still insist that when you buy a CD you had better not change it in any way shape or form.&nbsp; Movie companies try and force you to watch movies in a certain way.&nbsp; Until this digital manipulation was a possibility no one cared if you did it to a physical version.&nbsp; If I want to take my old vhs tapes and recut them no one will stop me.&nbsp; They may laugh, but it's my tape.&nbsp; Now all of a sudden I don't own that movie anymore.&nbsp; The companies tell me I just have a license to their movie.&nbsp; Games companies release games that are specifically intended to defeat backups.&nbsp; I can no longer do anything with my purchases except what the producer intended.&nbsp; In effect I am now expected to just rent them.&nbsp; So we have two different ethics, one I can own this, and two I can only rent it.&nbsp; If I buy a machine and want to modify it I can.&nbsp; I can even take it apart and put it together separately.&nbsp; If I buy the parts I can even copy it.&nbsp; My electronic &quot;property&quot; however has no parts to buy.&nbsp; All it takes is my time.&nbsp; We have a mishmash of confusion that is massively blurring ethics.&nbsp; A publisher looks at it one way having put plenty of good effort into a product, but the so-called pirate sees it as no different than borrowing a friend's books without the inconvenience of having to worry about returning it.&nbsp; The publisher sees a lot of people that are reading the book but not buying it and gets upset at the lost sales.&nbsp; The borrower sees himself as no different than someone that uses a library or even checks out books at a bookstore a few minutes a day.&nbsp; Certainly it is more convenient but since when does convenience have anything to do with right or wrong?All of this comes out of the problems capitalism is discovering when products are no longer tangible.&nbsp; Before we had the authors selling books in order to generate finances to support the author.&nbsp; Now we are trying to sell the content of those pages.In the end it will eventually come down to this.&nbsp; Everyone will have to face the knowledge of their consequences eventually.&nbsp; In the end it won't be about the purchase, but instead about supporting those that brighten and enhance our lives.&nbsp; As the author of VoFT put on their website people that have donated can consider themselves to have paid for the product.&nbsp; The ethical thing when all the capitalism is dropped is to feed the authors and the artists.&nbsp; Sustain them so they can continue to create wonders for our minds.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Sledge, post: 1546394, member: 9324"] Something just occurred to me... to be fair it is 2AM so I'm not sure how coherent this will be. The problem with "Piracy" is one of ethics. Not of whether piracy is right or wrong, but instead the understanding of electronic information which can be copied without changing the original. We are still thinking in terms of the physical world. However the copying issue has no physical implications. We have games companies and record companies and book companies trying to tell us what we can do with their hardware. There was even a debate at one point whether playing a game and creating your own resources for it would result in the game creator owning all you do. A copyright holder may still insist that when you buy a CD you had better not change it in any way shape or form. Movie companies try and force you to watch movies in a certain way. Until this digital manipulation was a possibility no one cared if you did it to a physical version. If I want to take my old vhs tapes and recut them no one will stop me. They may laugh, but it's my tape. Now all of a sudden I don't own that movie anymore. The companies tell me I just have a license to their movie. Games companies release games that are specifically intended to defeat backups. I can no longer do anything with my purchases except what the producer intended. In effect I am now expected to just rent them. So we have two different ethics, one I can own this, and two I can only rent it. If I buy a machine and want to modify it I can. I can even take it apart and put it together separately. If I buy the parts I can even copy it. My electronic "property" however has no parts to buy. All it takes is my time. We have a mishmash of confusion that is massively blurring ethics. A publisher looks at it one way having put plenty of good effort into a product, but the so-called pirate sees it as no different than borrowing a friend's books without the inconvenience of having to worry about returning it. The publisher sees a lot of people that are reading the book but not buying it and gets upset at the lost sales. The borrower sees himself as no different than someone that uses a library or even checks out books at a bookstore a few minutes a day. Certainly it is more convenient but since when does convenience have anything to do with right or wrong? All of this comes out of the problems capitalism is discovering when products are no longer tangible. Before we had the authors selling books in order to generate finances to support the author. Now we are trying to sell the content of those pages. In the end it will eventually come down to this. Everyone will have to face the knowledge of their consequences eventually. In the end it won't be about the purchase, but instead about supporting those that brighten and enhance our lives. As the author of VoFT put on their website people that have donated can consider themselves to have paid for the product. The ethical thing when all the capitalism is dropped is to feed the authors and the artists. Sustain them so they can continue to create wonders for our minds. [/QUOTE]

Verification