duckman on 20/4/2006 at 03:23
If i remember correctly Canada has not found a way to prosecute people who use person to person file sharing programs, so it is technically not illegal as of yet, however if you've ever watched a DVD you see that it clearly states that you are not supposed to copy the DVD, however the chances of them prosecuting you for copying a DVD are practically 0% unless you start selling them, in which case you are a bootlegger. In the USA children and adults have been prosecuted for downloading music and P2P programs like Napster were shut down or at least forced to become a legitamite company. I personally do copy DVDs when I rent them, because I usually only end up watching them once due to lack of time to actaully watch the movie during the 2 day rental period and I do download music because I think its unfair to charge 2 dollars for a song or 25 dollars for a CD when I make a low income and I have to pay rising fees for college and university, plus gas, taxes, electric ect ect. I also do not like having to drive all the way to the store to pick up a CD and have someone with a sash covered in smiley face pins treat me like an idiot because I'm not "hip" with the music scene. *Never shopping at Play again.* I'd like to know where the music industry gets off raising prices of CDs and songs while minimum wage remains steady or dropping in some cases. In my opinion music hasn't gotten any better than it was 100 years ago.
Turtle on 20/4/2006 at 05:05
Are you really an idiot, or do you just play one in this thread?
Those justifications are pathetic.
theBlackman on 20/4/2006 at 07:38
I vote with Turtle.
If you survive in the real world long enough you might (the operative is might) learn that you don't live outside your income. Sadly it is apparent that you have not got the message. What you want is not what you need and, unless a life of crime is your intent, you need to distinquish between the two.
Unfortunately, the gimme mentality is like stupidity. It can't be fixed.
Malygris on 20/4/2006 at 12:26
The "gimme mentality" is also very commonplace. "It's too much money," or, "It's not a fair price," or my personal favourite, "It's perfectly legal to make a backup copy for archival purposes," are common justifications among people who make a habit of illegally downloading music and/or software.
In fact, I've only met one person who, when asked about it, just came out and said that he downloads music and movies because he wants it free and he can get it free and he doesn't give a shit what anyone else thinks or who it affects. Anecdotal, but also somewhat refreshing, and I have to admit I feel a little more respect for someone who says fuck you, I'm stealing it, rather than trying to feed me a bunch of bullshit rationalizations.
duckman on 20/4/2006 at 19:47
What about the morality of downloading television shows. You pay cable companies to view these shows and products such as Tivo exist so that you can record the TV show and watch it how many times whenever you want. Would not downloading a TV show be the same as recording it with Tivo?
Turtle on 20/4/2006 at 20:07
No, advertisers pay the TV networks show their ads, thereby affording the networks money to put towards developing shows.
You pay the cable company to access premium content that is less ad supported.
Downloading shows from the net is generally bad for networks, because the ads are stripped out, thus potentially decreasing revenue for the companies that pay the networks.
If companies don't see a return on their investments they will stop paying the networks.
Available funds will go down, along with budgets for creating programs.
That said, there are some shows I download (Deadwood, The Shield) because I don't feel the extra $70 a month is justified, but I try to make up for that with DVD puchases of said shows when they are made available.
duckman on 20/4/2006 at 20:14
But with Tivo you can fastforward through the commercials, and with other similar products such as Microsoft's Media Center, you can even edit the recorded programing. So would editing the programing to delete the commericals for future use also be illegal? For example, your dad saves family guy and deletes the commercials, then he allows you to watch it. Your dad has seen the commercials but you will not, so are you engaging in an illegal activity by viewing the edited television broadcast?
Myoldnamebroke on 20/4/2006 at 20:21
There's the possibility that TiVo still contributes to viewing figures (anyone know for sure?), whereas online clearly doesn't. Lower viewing figures = can't charge as much for the ad slots. I guess it also makes it look less popular and thus more likely to get chopped or bumped around.
Agent Monkeysee on 20/4/2006 at 21:30
Quote Posted by Myoldnamebroke
There's the possibility that TiVo still contributes to viewing figures (anyone know for sure?), whereas online clearly doesn't. Lower viewing figures = can't charge as much for the ad slots. I guess it also makes it look less popular and thus more likely to get chopped or bumped around.
I'm pretty sure both TiVo and digital cable boxes send back viewership information, which is all advertisers really want anyway. You download it from TVPoop.net and no one who paid for the show knows you're watching it.
As for the "fast forward through ads" issue, the industry didn't like that when we called them VCRs either. But the ability to distribute freely wasn't quite as easy with magnetic tapes so fair use won out.
