A third side of the fence - somewhat of a rant on the condition of the entertainment/overall software world
|
| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| Teron Jan 12, 2006 5:59 AM EDT |
I recently rented the film Aliens vs. Predator.
Haven't watched it yet, don't know if it's crap or not.
But, when I put the DVD to my PS2 to watch it, up jumps a commercial.
It was that commercial that made me write this. "You wouldn't steal this, you wouldn't steal that. You wouldn't steal a movie, right? Movie piracy is stealing. Stealing is against the law. Piracy is a crime." Now, let's move to a broader scale than just movies. Let's expand to music and computer software. Both have the same basic setup as the movie business. So, on the other side of the fence are the thieves, who deprive an industry of the profits it deserves. So, what's on the other side? An industry that gives jackshit of it's customers and wants to deprive them of freedom (Trusted Platform Modules, DRM, and gods alone know what else). An industry that cares little for anything that's not called "money". Hell, they even break the law to ensure that their products couldn't possibly be used accordingly to the "Fair Use" clauses in most copyright laws. Prime example being the Sony BMG XCP-DRM scandal. Now, I don't want to steal. Nor do I want to break the law. But, even more important than that, I don't want to give up my freedom. So, what's the solution? DRM? Trusted Platform Modules? No chance in hell. Piratism? No, unless someone finds a way to turn my morals upside down. Point is, a "do-not-circumvent-copy-protection" law was recently passed here in Finland, which'd essentially make creating a personal backup, for example, illegal. I'm already frustrated as hell because a CD record of a band's live performance is copy controlled. Sure, I can somewhat circumvent the DRM by using dBpowerAMP Music Converter and telling it to read TOCs like a normal CD player, but I still lose the first two songs on both discs. Hello, Virgin, I BOUGHT THIS THING TO LISTEN TO IT. THERE'S NO EULA, SO I TECHNICALLY OWN THE DAMN THING. Now, Why can't I do what I want with my property? Should I carry a CD player with me just to play that specific disc, when, in all sensibility, and by the letter of the Finnish law (before that idiotic law was passed), I should be allowed to make a couple electronic copies (iPod+own computer) for my own, personal use? I don't think so. So, my options are to either side with the criminals, or to side with the other criminals. Where's the third side of the fence, where things make sense? In the movie world, nowhere. In the music world, there's some, but in rare places. In the software world? the F/OSS movements seem to be filling the spot. Thank you for creating a third side of the fence - even if it only stretches for a part of the way. |
| salparadise Jan 12, 2006 7:13 AM EDT |
Using the Open Source argument, the obvious answer would be to make your own music and release it under an open license.
The obvious problem is that you don't then get to listen to "recognised artists". You know when you've done wrong and unless you're unsound in mind you don't need a law to tell you when you've gone too far. If a company passes an unfair law in order to restrict the market to it's own ends then I think you could make a fairly sound argument in defence of defying such a law. Providing you're prepared to fight such a law and possibly stand trial in order to make your point. History is full of such actions, Ghandi and followers making salt, the Quakers who refused to pay tax during war time and went to prison for it and so on. The question is, how do you balance fairness and your own right to listen to your own legally bought CD's/films with the letter of the law? We can't have a situation where anyone can decide they don't like a particular law and flout it whenever they feel like it else we'll end up with anarchy. On the other hand, most unjust laws have only been cast down because people stood up and refused to go along with them. |
| Teron Jan 13, 2006 12:41 AM EDT |
*nods* In the case of music, I buy the CDs and do whatever I wish with them, no matter what record labels or anti-DRM-circumvention laws say. I just don't spread the stuff on big P2P networks. Works for me. |
You cannot post until you login.