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Originally Posted by baslotto  "Stealing" doesn't exist on the internet |
really ... looks like someone hasn't been reading the thread, here a recap:
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Originally Posted by UnderTow That is just stupid. You can't equating physical theft with copying stuff (software or music or whatever).
Alistair |
what's stupid is confusing the container for the product.
this whole thing about mp3's being worthless digital bits, and arguments of scarcity are bonk too. those 20th century antiques were only ever artificially scarce like most consumer goods are only limited by the amount that can be sold, like 12 million allanis morrisette albums.
the mp3 is the container, not the product. the 5" plastic disc, was the container and not the product. people weren't buying cds because they wanted a bunch of 5" plastic discs cluttering up their homes - they bought them for the music, which is the product.
so how does this work for waves software? adobe? video games? ebooks? Should everything in a digital container be free due to the non-cost of the container?
I think it's a little intellectually dishonest to argue the music itself, the investment of human labor is worthless because the replication cost of the container has been reduced to near zero. the zero cost is in the container, not the product. people can have all the bits they want for free...
but if those bits contain music, software, books, videogames, etc - than those are protected by copyright and for good reason, and even more so in the digital world, as we have seen.
People get to vote w/ dollars. Buy or don't buy. If people don't buy your product, you need to rethink your pricing.
But they also don't have the right to steal it. The market only sets the price passively by choosing not to pay the price that is offered.
piracy exists simply do to a lack of enforcement and I've yet to hear anyone say otherwise.
people can argue that the laws should not be enforced, or the laws should be changed, but I've yet to meet someone who does not accept the basic fact that piracy is a result of failed law enforcement.
so is it victimless crime or punishment for bad business practices?
it can't be victimless punishment can it?