ARRRR

[40cakes]

I've been watching a lot of DVDs for work this week, and more than once I've seen this anti-piracy ad (PSA?) with the following onscreen graphics:

You wouldn't steal a car.
You wouldn't steal a purse.
You wouldn't steal a television.
You wouldn't steal a DVD.
Downloading movies on the internet is illegal.
Movie piracy is stealing.
Yada yada yada [I made that part up]

You're right. I wouldn't steal a car. Or a purse. Or a TV. Maybe a DVD. MAYBE. But those things require some sort of strategy and escape plan. And they hurt the people who, for example, bought the car. Had personal items in that purse. The small-business owner who needed the revenue from that TV or DVD.

Stealing movies from Paramount Pictures? Hey, I'm pretty honest. I'm also an American Capitalist. That means that I demand to pay what something is worth. And "Little Black Book" is worth the price of the time it takes for my internet to download it and the CD I burn it onto. Maybe. Hey, I pay for quality merchandise. For example? As of this Tuesday, I'll have bought "The Princess Bride" on DVD TWICE.

Oh, and if you're the kind of movie studio who makes a hot mix trailer of your films on DVD to a hard-hitting action-packed song, and you include SIDEWAYS, then I definitely don't feel bad about stealing.

Comments

[decembermalice.livejournal.com]

Hey are you going with Kirk to the party tonight?

[fadingembers.livejournal.com]

I think so! Trying to see if I can sneak out of work early!

[redd-starburst.livejournal.com]

I couldn't agree more about the anti-piracy commercials before some DVDs. It would take a lot of planning to steal a car. Because you know darn well you won't steal a piece of crap car, you would want to steal a nice Benz or Porche.

On another note, when i go to the gas station to run in to get a drink I always see someone running in also but they leave their car windows down, unlocked doors, and their engines running. Do you ever see that?

[phanatic.livejournal.com]

. I wouldn't steal a car. Or a purse. Or a TV. Maybe a DVD. MAYBE. But those things require some sort of strategy and escape plan. And they hurt the people who, for example, bought the car. Had personal items in that purse. The small-business owner who needed the revenue from that TV or DVD.

That's the fundamental difference. Cars, televisions, purses, these are all examples of rival goods. They exist in finite supply, and one person's use of a given car, say, deprives others of the use of that car; you can I can't *both* drive to work in the same car at the same time.

The informational content on a DVD or a CD or a filmstrip is non-rival. It can be duplicated effortlessly, innumerable times, without depriving anyone of it. My watching a movie on my television in no way prevents you from watching that same movie on your teevee.

Pro-IP arguments that rest on making an analogy between rival goods and non-rival goods are transparently flawed, and people understand that. They know that when they make a mix tape for friends, they haven't committed an act anywhere near akin to taking someone's wallet. And the more the MAFIAA (Movie and Film Industry Association of America) tells them that they have, the more they're going to react with at first contempt, and then with outright hostility.

[bradamant.livejournal.com]

It can be duplicated effortlessly

Exactly. And as I've been saying pretty much since I arrived on LJ (http://bradamant.livejournal.com/14333.html), if you can produce an item of value with a negligible investment of time, effort, expertise, and materials, you have done something pretty radical economically, and the business model is probably going to have to change.

Like your MAFIAA acronym--must adopt.

[fadingembers.livejournal.com]

We have Wawa Gas stations in south Jersey where if you pay by card, they scan your card and immediately hand it back, pretty much encouraging you to go inside and consume. I always roll up my windows and lock my doors, because the gas station has SO many pumps and SO few attendants, it would be easy for anyone to simply decide to grab my car and pop off (not that I have a fab car, but I do have a Civic, which is one of the top 3 cars most stolen, due to parts). Also, I'm rather paranoid.

[fadingembers.livejournal.com]

Man, even if I could fly to work, I think I'd still take NJ Transit - I like that 45 minutes in the morning and evening where I knit or do needlepoint or something. When I'm home, I'm too distracted by the million other things I can do instead.

[nothingjerk.livejournal.com]

I love when they show teh poor Stunt man or Boom operator who you are stealing money from because you pirated or bough ta pirated movie
They don't mention how these people are getting raped daily by thier unions or the movie companies