If you give me something that you bought that is (or was) for sale, does that make me a thief? If I give that something you gave me to another guy, does that make the three of us thieves? Where do we draw the line between sharing and piracy?
At what particular point does a pirate become a pirate?
In movies we always associate pirates with spears and guns on boats, evil foul mouthed stinky looking men, yet I don't fit myself in the picture, although, I kinda like the hat. I shower everyday, I don't bring guns, I go to Sunday church, and most importantly I don't have a boat, not to mention that I'm too handsome to be a pirate, ha!
But why do I become a pirate if I share torrents over the internet?
If I heard a song and sang it to you exactly the way the artist would've sang it (well, I can't really sing but that's beside the point), can the recording studio sue me for that? The answer is definitely no, but if a friend of mine gives me a copy of the original recording that he bought why doesn't that apply? After all, the recording was bought and it's not actually their artist that's singing there but a clone of his voice... not the original. And it would even be too absurd if you relate it to something like plagiarism, because no one else is claiming it as his own work. If I stole the CD from the store, that would've been something. Cops chasing you around the city, with one hand on the CD.
Let's talk movies. A guy watches a movie in the theater (he paid for the ticket) and brings a camera with him to record the whole thing on screen, what makes it so different with recording or getting pictures from, say, a zoo?
Now I'm beginning to hear the movie producers telling me in my head, "Hey, you piece of %@#$ you're stealing our stuff!!!" Yah, it's like they have telekinesis or something.
And I respond, "Ah, no mister, I'm not. I bought your stuff in the theater, and now I'm simply retelling your story to my friends, old and new, in a much... much clearer picture. Is that bad? It's my way of warning them of how your movie, you know, really sucks." --- Many would pay again and again to watch a pretty good movie... so better make it damn good!
Just some thoughts that a pirate would think over some whisky. Burp! ;)
