I might be a pirate...
Jan. 25th, 2012 04:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fantastic_jackieI think I should confess something- a realization I just recently had. Maybe I'm just getting too far into the motives of my villains in the novel I'm working on (Geez, that feels so weird to say, but it's finally true!) or maybe I'm just really angry about SOPA and big Hollywood in general. Maybe I've always secretly admired hackers and what they can do.
Guys, I think... I think I support piracy. Not just that I'm apathetic towards it or even just okay with it. I think I literally support pirates and hacktivists. In fact, you may even call me an Internet picture pirate, because many of the images I use, I'm supposed to pay for; I'm handy enough with photo editing that I easily remove their watermarks. I won't apologize, either: I'm not paying up to $1000 just to download a tiny image I'll alter and use for a few months at best. That's just a tad bit excessive if you ask me.
The main reason I support them is because of my hatred for the Hollywood industry. Yes, piracy is theft. But I would classify a $15 movie ticket because it comes with 3D glasses theft too. - Okay, so it's actually greed, but still. - Their response to that would be that they've had to raise the prices because of piracy, but we all know that's bogus: if all piracy ended today, you would not see a dime of price changes on anything from music to blu rays. The excessive court cases would continue, too. Like the woman who was fined millions for uploading 22 songs or the 10-yr-old whose charity video was fined thousands until the charity dollars were all in the pockets if greedy CEOs, lawyers, and producers.
Unjust court cases aren't all they pursue, though. No, they crafted a purposely vague law in the hopes of catching even accidental offenders. They lobby and intimidate Washington -why do you think dems still support the legislation?- to ignore the rights their bills will endanger. If someone says the word greed, I don't think of Wall Street; I think of Sunset Boulevard.
So I support pirates to get back at them the only way they can comprehend: their wallets. Whether though means of piracy, DDOS attacks, hacking to steal information and posting it publicly, or evolving the threats of being online thereby costing them more in R&D to protect themselves. The more havoc they cause, the better.
I also can't ignore several simple truths around the reasons piracy exists. There are some good ones: chiefly restricted countries, such as China or Middle Eastern countries, depend on pirates for various means of expression. Poor people too depend upon pirates for things they couldn't otherwise afford, even including things like text books. -Don't misunderstand me. Piracy is, at least in most cases, anything but altruistic. But you can't deny that it serves some very real needs.
And let's talk about needs for a second here. If Hollywood would just make their content readily available, there would be no need for piracy! What is the point of delaying releases in different countries? It doesn't create demand; it creates an opportunity for pirates! I understand that sometimes, things just happen, whether technical difficulties or political inconveniences, but overall? It's 2012! You cannot convince me that we don't have the technology yet to release things in America at the same time as the UK or Japan! Why can't Hollywood take a page out of South Park's playbook? Do you think anyone pirates South Park? I mean, unless we're talking about a country that outlaws the show - which they do exist - there's no need! South Park is readily available to be watched online for FREE at their website! You have to sit through three commercial breaks, which is how they STILL make money, but you can go right now to southparkstudios.com and watch any episode minus two that show Muhammed for safety concerns. (That's another post for another day.) They've gotten better about making shows available through things like iTunes Season Passes, but I don't think any company is better about it than Disney: when I check the episodes available on Netflix for Phineas and Ferb, it's constantly updated.
Remove the need for piracy, remove the unnecessary waits, and make the content freely accessible through advertising, and voila! People will watch the shows at YOUR site rather than the pirate sites! WOAH! I might be a genius over here, thinking that Hollywood should USE the internet to make money rather than stripping people of their rights!
The other big reason I support piracy is because I support the Internet and what it is. The Internet allows for these things to happen, and it's fascinating how the hackers do it. I've been doing a lot of research into Cryptographers and their opposite Cryptanalyist hunters. Groups like Anonymous are the former whereas agencies such as the FBI employ the latter. The stuff they do, how they evolve and respond to each other... it's awesome. The Internet in this regard is constantly expanding, new possibilities opening up as these people create new rules out of necessity. Remember the Anonymous response to Megaupload being shut down, when they shut down sites such as the DOJ, FBI, and MPAA? The attack was massive and worldwide with over 5000 hactivists adding the powers of their Low Orbit Ion Cannons. (LOL! I can't believe they call it that. XD) But it wasn't only hactivists that attacked: through some ingenious links and Javascript, regular folks who clicked actually participated too! It was a new tactic never seen before. And the probability of those people getting caught? Well... they do call themselves Anonymous, after all. It's not impossible and does happen, but...
In one of their attacks a couple years back, Anonymous compared the Internet and the regulations it faces to limit its abilities and the information it is allowed to pass on to the political history of the printing press: it was this comparison that really made me stop and think.
You see, within the Internet exists the ability to be entirely anonymous, to be entirely free. While this freedom is often abused to carry out illegal activity, I believe that the freedom SHOULD exist. And hey, sometimes that illegal activity has a very good reason, even! Even so, just because Megaupload was used for piracy doesn't mean it was always used for piracy. (It also doesn't mean that the DOJ should have free reign to shut down sites at will. What happened to due process and innocence until proof of guilt in a fair court of law?) Much like the second amendment, freedom has always and will always require responsibility on the parts of the free.
I just... I dunno. While I'll never support thievery, I can't help but support piracy: the free spread of any and all information, regardless of what it is. It's hypocritical, I know. Maybe it's anger; I get pretty angry about abridged rights and such, which is what greedy Hollywood is after. At the same time, I've always believed that information above all should be accessible to all. - Not as an entitlement, but as a right. While governments and individuals are allowed to have secrets and privacy, no government should have the power to limit access to information.
What do y'all think about piracy? Is it a good thing? Are hactivists awesome? Or are they criminal menaces who should be hunted down? I'm certainly not against the prosecution of hackers and pirates; they are breaking the law and stealing, and they should pay the price if they're caught. - But not excessive prices... Like when a handful of pirates from Pirate Bay were fined $6.5 million. Like they'll ever be able to pay that! It's just greed!
Guys, I think... I think I support piracy. Not just that I'm apathetic towards it or even just okay with it. I think I literally support pirates and hacktivists. In fact, you may even call me an Internet picture pirate, because many of the images I use, I'm supposed to pay for; I'm handy enough with photo editing that I easily remove their watermarks. I won't apologize, either: I'm not paying up to $1000 just to download a tiny image I'll alter and use for a few months at best. That's just a tad bit excessive if you ask me.
The main reason I support them is because of my hatred for the Hollywood industry. Yes, piracy is theft. But I would classify a $15 movie ticket because it comes with 3D glasses theft too. - Okay, so it's actually greed, but still. - Their response to that would be that they've had to raise the prices because of piracy, but we all know that's bogus: if all piracy ended today, you would not see a dime of price changes on anything from music to blu rays. The excessive court cases would continue, too. Like the woman who was fined millions for uploading 22 songs or the 10-yr-old whose charity video was fined thousands until the charity dollars were all in the pockets if greedy CEOs, lawyers, and producers.
Unjust court cases aren't all they pursue, though. No, they crafted a purposely vague law in the hopes of catching even accidental offenders. They lobby and intimidate Washington -why do you think dems still support the legislation?- to ignore the rights their bills will endanger. If someone says the word greed, I don't think of Wall Street; I think of Sunset Boulevard.
So I support pirates to get back at them the only way they can comprehend: their wallets. Whether though means of piracy, DDOS attacks, hacking to steal information and posting it publicly, or evolving the threats of being online thereby costing them more in R&D to protect themselves. The more havoc they cause, the better.
I also can't ignore several simple truths around the reasons piracy exists. There are some good ones: chiefly restricted countries, such as China or Middle Eastern countries, depend on pirates for various means of expression. Poor people too depend upon pirates for things they couldn't otherwise afford, even including things like text books. -Don't misunderstand me. Piracy is, at least in most cases, anything but altruistic. But you can't deny that it serves some very real needs.
And let's talk about needs for a second here. If Hollywood would just make their content readily available, there would be no need for piracy! What is the point of delaying releases in different countries? It doesn't create demand; it creates an opportunity for pirates! I understand that sometimes, things just happen, whether technical difficulties or political inconveniences, but overall? It's 2012! You cannot convince me that we don't have the technology yet to release things in America at the same time as the UK or Japan! Why can't Hollywood take a page out of South Park's playbook? Do you think anyone pirates South Park? I mean, unless we're talking about a country that outlaws the show - which they do exist - there's no need! South Park is readily available to be watched online for FREE at their website! You have to sit through three commercial breaks, which is how they STILL make money, but you can go right now to southparkstudios.com and watch any episode minus two that show Muhammed for safety concerns. (That's another post for another day.) They've gotten better about making shows available through things like iTunes Season Passes, but I don't think any company is better about it than Disney: when I check the episodes available on Netflix for Phineas and Ferb, it's constantly updated.
Remove the need for piracy, remove the unnecessary waits, and make the content freely accessible through advertising, and voila! People will watch the shows at YOUR site rather than the pirate sites! WOAH! I might be a genius over here, thinking that Hollywood should USE the internet to make money rather than stripping people of their rights!
The other big reason I support piracy is because I support the Internet and what it is. The Internet allows for these things to happen, and it's fascinating how the hackers do it. I've been doing a lot of research into Cryptographers and their opposite Cryptanalyist hunters. Groups like Anonymous are the former whereas agencies such as the FBI employ the latter. The stuff they do, how they evolve and respond to each other... it's awesome. The Internet in this regard is constantly expanding, new possibilities opening up as these people create new rules out of necessity. Remember the Anonymous response to Megaupload being shut down, when they shut down sites such as the DOJ, FBI, and MPAA? The attack was massive and worldwide with over 5000 hactivists adding the powers of their Low Orbit Ion Cannons. (LOL! I can't believe they call it that. XD) But it wasn't only hactivists that attacked: through some ingenious links and Javascript, regular folks who clicked actually participated too! It was a new tactic never seen before. And the probability of those people getting caught? Well... they do call themselves Anonymous, after all. It's not impossible and does happen, but...
In one of their attacks a couple years back, Anonymous compared the Internet and the regulations it faces to limit its abilities and the information it is allowed to pass on to the political history of the printing press: it was this comparison that really made me stop and think.
You see, within the Internet exists the ability to be entirely anonymous, to be entirely free. While this freedom is often abused to carry out illegal activity, I believe that the freedom SHOULD exist. And hey, sometimes that illegal activity has a very good reason, even! Even so, just because Megaupload was used for piracy doesn't mean it was always used for piracy. (It also doesn't mean that the DOJ should have free reign to shut down sites at will. What happened to due process and innocence until proof of guilt in a fair court of law?) Much like the second amendment, freedom has always and will always require responsibility on the parts of the free.
I just... I dunno. While I'll never support thievery, I can't help but support piracy: the free spread of any and all information, regardless of what it is. It's hypocritical, I know. Maybe it's anger; I get pretty angry about abridged rights and such, which is what greedy Hollywood is after. At the same time, I've always believed that information above all should be accessible to all. - Not as an entitlement, but as a right. While governments and individuals are allowed to have secrets and privacy, no government should have the power to limit access to information.
What do y'all think about piracy? Is it a good thing? Are hactivists awesome? Or are they criminal menaces who should be hunted down? I'm certainly not against the prosecution of hackers and pirates; they are breaking the law and stealing, and they should pay the price if they're caught. - But not excessive prices... Like when a handful of pirates from Pirate Bay were fined $6.5 million. Like they'll ever be able to pay that! It's just greed!
no subject
Date: 2012-01-26 07:23 pm (UTC)In my car driving to the grocery store today I got to thinking about it and I bet you are right! Because last year Saudi Arabia slowed down their oil production because there was an over-surplus in the world! But did that reduce gas prices in the US? HELL NO!
no subject
Date: 2012-01-29 06:37 am (UTC)Still, I don't see Hollywood ever lowering their prices. I mean, consider Netflix, which is currently running in the red even after price increases. Reason: they're trying to expand their online inventory so better things are instantly available, but it's expensive: Hollyood is pricing one of its biggest corporate consumers potentially out of business.