[nzlug] PCWorld Anti Piracy

[cr]

On Tuesday 08 January 2008 12:24, Robert Coup wrote:
> On 08/01/2008, Nick Rout <nick at rout.co.nz> wrote:
> > The problem with equating copyright infringement and "theft", from a
> > legal point of view, is that our legal concepts of theft have
> > traditionally dealt with physical things, not intangibles like
> > intellectual property. In fact electricity is something that is
> > specifically mentioned in the legislation as being "capable of being
> > stolen", because traditionally you couldn't steal it.
>
> And to spell it out really clearly for an explaining-to-friends point of
> view:
>
> Copyright infringement and theft aren't the same because:
> When I steal your car, you can't use it anymore.
> When I copy your CD, you can still use it, and so can I.
>
> (I'm not saying IP is bad or copyright infringement is good - just pointing
> out that calling it theft is very misleading)
>
> Rob :)

Well, the monopolists would love us to believe that 'Piracy' (their word) is 
bad for everyone.   (They'd also like us to believe that giving them lots of 
money is good for _us_   ;)      But it gets into some very grey areas.   How 
about being sent copies of overseas TV programs which haven't been screened 
here yet or released on DVD?    In fact, isn't taping a programme off the TV 
breach of copyright?    (Or does it only become so if you edit out the 
commercials?  <g>)      How about buying Region 1 DVD's on Ebay because the 
show isn't yet available here or Region 1 has better 'extras'?    

Copyright holders themselves seem to have widely varying attitudes to what 
is 'fair usage' - X-Files and Star Trek I believe were notorious for sending 
lawyers' letters to fan sites.   OTOH, not one of the hundreds of 'Xena' 
sites (so far as I am aware) ever received  lawyers' letter, not even the 
sites (for such is the nature of fandom) that said very nasty libellous 
things about the producers.  Presumably they (the producers) reckoned the 
plus'es of being talked about on the Internet outweighed the minuses.    

(Disclaimer - I'm not advocating wholesale piracy, but the situation is 
nothing like what the monopolists would have us believe).

cr