
"Piracy" sounds too sexy, say rightsholders - olefoo
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/03/piracy-sounds-too-sexy-say-rightsholders.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss
======
conanite
Whatever new word they come up with, it will eventually sound sexy, too,
assuming it sticks.

Rebelling against self-destructive authoritarianism == sexy, no matter what
you call it.

~~~
gojomo
The euphemistic treadmill runs in both directions!

------
pbhjpbhj
I'd like to know how James Murdoch manages to reproduce and distribute
Pringles with virtually zero cost as compared with traditional manufacturing?
I'd sure like that app, "click to create a new pack of Pringles".

He's either being naive or intellectually dishonest; and I don't think he's
naive.

~~~
andreyf
_He's either being naive or intellectually dishonest; and I don't think he's
naive._

This meme needs to die [1]. A fisherman doesn't care that a dolphin isn't a
fish - when he calls it that, he means that it swims in the sea, gets caught
in his net, and tastes delicious. Similarly, Murdoch's perspective is that of
the copyright investor - he sees the purpose of copyright law as _creating and
protecting a new class of property_ in order to encourage its production. His
assets are invested in the production of this "new-style-property" which the
federal government promised to protect (just as it does material property).
From his point of view, the nature of distribution of that property just
aren't relevant.

1\. The cognitive bias is so painfully blatant: "the guy I disagree with is a
liar bullshitting idiots, or is an idiot himself"? Come on.

~~~
Nwallins
> _This meme needs to die ... The cognitive bias is so painfully blatant: "the
> guy I disagree with is a liar bullshitting idiots, or is an idiot himself"?
> Come on._

Cognitive bias? Why restate the assertion with loaded terms?

Are you saying that it is not intellectually dishonest to equate copyright
infringement with theft? Theft deprives its victim of property.

~~~
chrischen
He's saying the laws we agreed on treat physical property and intellectual
property the same, and so to Murdoch there's no need to regard the
differences.

~~~
Nwallins
> _He's saying the laws we agreed on treat physical property and intellectual
> property the same_

Well this seems incorrect on its face. e.g. Copyright law

To my knowledge, copyright does not even address physical property. Thus it
does not treat physical property the same as intellectual property.

------
PatrickTulskie
I really don't understand the whole controversy around piracy. The fact of the
matter is, it's a real hassal to purchase and use physical media and the
respective industries are spending all of their money suing the consumer
instead of listening to what might make them spend more money.

Sure the word sounds glamorous if you're a blithering idiot. When someone
downloads a torrent, they aren't thinking "Damn I'm like Johnny Depp!" They
are thinking "This is so much easier than dealing with 15 FBI warnings and a
stack of previews I can't skip before I watch this movie."

Think about it: You know the guy selling screeners and movie copies in the
subway for $10 a piece? ...the same thing you can buy in the store without all
of the copyright notices and advertisements and $30 cheaper. Which one would
you rather buy?

------
stcredzero
Is it that "piracy" is too sexy, or is it that DRM and the alternatives those
companies offer a bad deal?

<http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/steal_this_comic.png>

Also, being forced to sit through stuff stinks. If I am offered an
alternative, I'll take it. I'll even pay.

------
kbob
"Rightsholders" sounds too respectable. They should be called Information
Monopolists (IM).

------
njharman
"There is no difference with going into a store and stealing Pringles or a
handbag and taking this stuff"

Other than shoplifting is probably a misdeamenor with small fine and maybe
30-90 days in county jail. Whereas copyright infringment does such violence to
(USA)society that it's been deemed necessary to punish with 5yrs in (federal)
jail and $250,000 fine per instance of infringing. So, actually physically
stealing CD == wrist slap (first time offender). Threatining out of date
industry's business model 75 years and 3.75 million dollars (15 song CD).

"International Chamber of Commerce which argued that 1.2 million jobs could be
lost in Europe as a result of copyright infringement by 2015"

Is a meaningless metric unless compared to the number of jobs that could be
lost in Europe by 2015 due to the ever expanding and insanely broad copyright
protections.

I personally have had a career in IT due to pirated versions of DOS/Windows
(20+ years ago, gotta start somewhere) and other softwares along the way. And
btw by becoming a professional I've recommended, got purchased & installed
way, way more $$$ worth of software than I have ever pirated. Studies have
been done showing similar effects for music.

Of course these days cause of absurd DRM, EULA's, et al I recommend / work
with Open Source almost exclusively. So, it's really your own paranoid control
fetishes that are destroying your industries. Not Sexsay Pirates.

------
jcl
People wouldn't associate pirates with Johnny Depp _if they hadn't made a
movie showing how cool pirates are, starring Johnny Depp_. Hollywood likes to
make movies glamorizing criminals -- public enemies, goodfellas, princes of
thieves: crime is cool, except when it's happening to us.

Perhaps we should call it "stealing" instead? No problem, as long as people
don't associate it with Russell Crowe in Robin Hood (coming to a theater near
you; check your local listings).

~~~
mrcharles
Stealing is simply an inappropriate term any way you look at it. Stealing
involves a transfer of an item from one party to another. It's not stealing if
the original person still has it.

~~~
jcl
Yes, but this is precisely the kind of term they will choose, regardless of
appropriateness; "piracy" was not exactly a textbook definition of copyright
infringement, either. I am pointing out that "stealing" is not an improvement
over "piracy", as far as the perceived coolness of the crime.

------
ugh
The music industry is probably happier with their choice of label in Germany.
Pirated copies are widely called „Raubkopieren“ (lit. robbed copies) and
pirates are widely called „Raubkopierer“ (lit. people who rob copies).

Just as the pirate label that‘s a pretty stupid description. Making copies
might be wrong but it’s not robbery.

------
scotty79
I wonder what new words they can come up with. Thief does not really work
because for centuries it too obviously meant something very different.

Maybe one could find some good word in world of sex offenders and perverts?

How do you call jerking off to someones picture that had not been explicitly
sold to you for that purpose either by model, photographer or someone who has
agreement with both of them without informing any of them what you are doing
especially if some people buy exactly this picture from them for exactly that
purpose?

~~~
olefoo
If I were a memetic engineer in the pay of the rightsholders I'd probably try
to coopt the term 'leech'. As it has connotations of parasitism and failure to
contribute; and it's already in use in the community for people who download
but never upload (almost every bittorrent tracker will report the number of
leechers and seeders).

~~~
scotty79
In bit-torrent terminology leechers do upload but they do not have whole file.
Seeders have whole file which means that the keep being connected to torrent
network despite the fact that they have no longer any selfish goal in this.

------
thwarted
_This week, at the unveiling of a new study for the International Chamber of
Commerce which argued that 1.2 million jobs could be lost in Europe as a
result of copyright infringement by 2015, the head of the International
Actors' Federation lamented the term._

"1.2 million jobs lost" seems like it's a loaded term. Is this going to push
the unemployment rate higher? Is it a permanent loss? Will these people get
jobs elsewhere? What would the people do in these jobs if this industry never
existed? People have been saying that copyright infringement is going to hurt
employment for years, and yet the industries continue to exist and people
continue to find work.

------
rbanffy
I also like to be called a hacker.

------
febeling
I don't have a reference to back this up, but I seem to remember that the word
piracy was deliberately chosen but the industry to make it sound like a real
crime. Copying and sharing were the words used by ordinary users usually.

------
acg
Where will this all end? Is plagiarism theft? Is copying your neighbour's
garden design theft? Is copying a competitors phone design theft?

The digital rights for both sides need to be worked out. I'm all for investors
making money, but paying copyright holders to sing folk songs (long after the
initial money has been made) can't be fair either.

Some of this is just greed over sales that would never have happened really,
and a want to make content scarce when it's not.

------
mrcharles
There's more and more research showing that sharing causes people to be more
interested in things, which lead to them spending more money.

I wish there was more obvious research on this. Because sharing all my music
with all my friends (and anyone else, really) causes them to be more
interested in music and ultimately become a bigger follower of music. This is
also true for movies and TV.

~~~
jasonlotito
While research might show that in some cases, I'm sure it's not true in all
industries. And whatever anyone wants to call it (a rather silly debate),
copyright infringement isn't right. Site designs, indie music, the written
word, photographs, open source software: it's not just big industry.

But back to the research, I'd be interested if they focused on the industries,
or rather, simply the medium (TV, Movies).

------
wollw
It's interesting to note that the word piracy has applied to this sort of
thing for over 300 years.

<http://www.digitalproductions.co.uk/index.php?id=187>

Bit late I think.

------
aw3c2
And here am I, always thinking "piracy" was a term way too negative for what I
like to call "copyism".

~~~
pascalchristian
exactly.

------
lolcraft
I can't wait to get my copy of Murdoch's _Newspeak Dictionary: 2º Edition_.
Doubleplusgood!

------
windsurfer
Why does noscript warn me about an XSS attack on this page?

