February 21, 2010

  • I try and avoid discussions about the legality of downloaded copyrighted music / videos, because it's honestly just tiring. Whether there's still a debate on why they shouldn't be considered illegally downloaded items is a moot point. The simple truth of the matter is that if you get caught "sharing" copyrighted music / videos via the internet, there's a good chance you will either get an account shut down, pay a huge fine for such an act, or at worst get jail time. Is that something you want to deal with?

    Time and time again however, somebody has to try and justify that downloading copyrighted music / videos shouldn't be a punishable act. They talk about how radio is free or how we can record stuff from the TV with no problem.

    First point is really easy, WHO really likes the radio and the stuff they play, yet alone record music from it? Compare that to on-demand music that you can get off the internet, is it a wonder that radio is free, what with all the commercials they play? The music studios simply have the power to determine where their music should be available to the public, and what business model they support (iTunes, Amazon, LastFM, Pandora). You don't want to play by their rules, that's your call. If you want to get your music through "illegal" means, that's your call, just don't try to justify that what you are doing isn't really wrong. It is and don't be insecure about that fact.

    Second point is a little bit of a give and take, because while the studios allow people to record copyrighted videos off the TV, they really rather you didn't. There is a limit to how much you can record on a DVR so that's a benefit for the studios, and the people who actually transfer their recordings to a more permanent media are a small enough minority that they don't care that much. There are legal means to download or watch these copyrighted videos on the internet with the support of the studios, such as an iTunes, a Netflix, or a Hulu. People downloading or watching those videos through other unsupported methods via the internet is what the studios want to stop, because they get nothing out of them. The upside seems to be that the studios don't seem to care as much about illegally downloaded TV shows, but getting illegally distributed movies is a huge deal for them. It's pretty cut and dried to say that it's wrong to have downloaded a movie that is still playing in theaters, because that clearly takes money away from that market. So once again I say that if you have illegally downloaded videos, understand that it IS wrong, just don't be insecure about that fact.

    There's already enough cases in courts out there that are still "fighting the good fight" on the legal issues behind this downloaded copyrighted material debate, that you don't have to throw yourself into the mix. Once again it has to be said, but downloading copyrighted material off the internet, via methods that isn't backed by the industry, is currently illegal. There's just no "buts" to this fact right now, so there's no point justifying that you aren't doing anything illegal. Don't even resort to the "everybody is doing it" argument, because that's just stupid. Now if you're going to do something illegal, just don't get caught. Just take comfort on the fact that this criminal act isn't as bad as attacking or murdering somebody. Yes you are technically stealing profits away from the studios and the people who worked hard to get these copyrighted material out there in the first place, but it's not like this is a home invasion robbery... or is it?