

What copyright holders don't get about consumers and BitTorrent - henriklied
http://nrkbeta.no/an-epic-fail/

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LeChuck
"The copyright holders seem to think that we still travel the Atlantic in a
ocean liners run on coal. So they operate with licences that ignore the fact
that people don’t care about countries and borders anymore."

I like to watch TV shows. I also like to discuss episodes with other people.
Unfortunately most TV shows I watch are either months behind or don't air at
all where I live. So I read about these shows, but by the time I can
participate in the conversation the discussion has moved on. That's why I
torrent shows. Not because I'm not willing to pay for them (I own most of the
DVD sets) but because otherwise I wouldn't get the chance to participate in
one of the most gratifying aspects of following these series.

More extreme examples are series like Firefly and Battlestar Galactica. Both
never aired here and likely never will. I'm not willing to spend 45 euros on
DVDs based on Internet word of mouth alone, but in both cases I got hooked
after torrenting a few episodes and payed afterwards.

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neilo
I believe laziness generally wins over economy, and I include "impulse buys"
as such. If it's easier to pay than to pirate (and knowing/trusting what
you're getting), won't you? Sure there's a price point to consider ($2 an
episode is a bit much considering free streaming and cheaper DVDs), but I just
see copyright holders leaving money on the table and burning funds to fight a
losing battle whilst alienating the populace.

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kubrick
_I would like to tell the Pirate Bay the same thing everybody has told us for
the past 10 years. They should go out and find a new business model, one that
doesn’t involve profiting from stolen property…What everybody who steals music
should realize is that e-looting is not a victimless crime. Everyone who does
it is hurting themselves. They are killing the music._

I wish the author of the article had addressed this quote more directly.
"E-looting" is in no way "killing the music". It's not a crime, anymore than
singing a familiar melody (that's under copyright) is an e-looting crime.

At least in the US, copyright law is unconstitutional. Read the copyright
clause: there's no mention of treating the intangible as "property", nor is
there granted the right to transfer "ownership". Far from it. Read Jefferson's
letters on the subject, and you'd find he was very much on the side of the
"pirates".

Just because you wrote a song doesn't mean I can't sing it. I can't imagine
who died and told these guys that they deserved big cash for songs, but it's
not true.

~~~
tptacek
110 Supreme Court Justices seated since the Copyright Clause was enacted along
with the Constitution in 1787, versus Kubrick from Hacker News. I wonder who's
right about whether copyright law is constitutional.

~~~
derefr
This is a completely bald-faced appeal to authority, and it's not even a very
good authority: it costs much less for Big Media to keep 110 decision-making
people quiet over the years (through downward pressure from the other parts of
government lobbied into agreement with them) than the amount they make while
doing so; however, it costs much too much to convince the entire public of
their side. In a democracy, if the public disagrees with a law, it's not
really a law, no matter what the legislators say.

~~~
tptacek
It's an appeal to authority in an argument about authority. The question
kubrick set up wasn't "is copyright law right" or "sensible" or "practicable";
it's "is it constitutional". The answer: yes.

~~~
kubrick
So the law is within the bounds of common sense when it defines the copyright
period as the life of the author plus 99 years? The constitution says a
copyright is granted _for a limited time_ to encourage artists to create. How
is Walt Disney going to be encouraged to create another Mickey Mouse when he's
been dead for 40 years?

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lucumo
What unbelievable blabla.

The Pirate Bay dudes are going to burn money if they had it? If the courts say
"money goes there", it goes there. That cannot be stopped unless a massive
people's uprising comes into play.

As for the HN title. We're all copyright holders. You're referring to the big
brands, not all copyright holders.

