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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 1558650" data-attributes="member: 19675">I have freinds who teach.  I have family who teach.  Plagiarism is NOT a virtue.  It is, in some places, grounds for dismissal from the school.IP is the bread and butter of professors who must "publish or perish."  You steal their IP and publish it before they can, they lose their jobs because then THEY look like the plagiarists.Patronage of the wealthy as a support model got you some amazing art...of whatever the patron wanted.  If the Church (THE major patron of the middle ages) said "Paint angels" you painted angels.  Protected IP at least allowed creators to control what they were creating.The closest thing to a trust fund in the USA is the NEA, and you've seen how well THAT works over the past 10 years.  The only good, supported art is that which passes conservative muster.  Nothing challenging the status quo will ever come out of the NEA as long as there is a morality board overseeing the process.Holland also attempted to subsidize art.  At one time (I don't have current data) you could apply to be a Nationally Accredited Artist for Holland by applying and paying a fee.  You got a salary in exchange for producing a number of pieces per year as determined by your favored medium.  Result-warehouses of really crummy art that will never see the light of day.Under a free-market stystem, the creator of IP is free to produce whatever he wants and the public is free to not buy it if they think its worthless.  But they need to have their IP protected against misappropriation of all forms.Here is something to consider.  No one sane takes efforts to acquire something they feel is worthless.  Someone acquiring illegal downloads values those downloads, even if it is $0.01.  If it is of value, the producer needs to be compensated.  If it is valueless to you-leave it alone and don't download it.Perhaps a happy medium for the Internet Age is releasing samples for people to judge the work.  Send the seller a bid of sufficient value, and he sends you the rest, kind of like an auction.I'll say this, though- auctions tend to lead to higher prices than competition.I know I don't tend to pay for things I have gotten for free, and I get free stuff (legally) all the time.But, I may be the exception.  Perhaps someone should do a poll."Do you pay creators for things that you can get for free on the internet?"Wait!  The RIAA already has data on that, and the majority of material initially downloaded for free is NEVER paid for in any form.To be fair, that IS the music industry, a well-known sea of sharks (it REALLY is).Perhaps our hobby has more ethical types.  But people are people, so why should it be that ...um...the ethics of downloading differ between IP fields?</blockquote>

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