| reply to karlmarx
Re: Haha, pirate bay will never die said by karlmarx:Look at it this way. If we had star trek replicators, where you could make a perfect copy of anything, would you say that everyone who use a replicator to make a 'whopper meal', was STEALING from burger king? Of course not. So why is 'copying' a file suddenly elevated to the level of 'theft', when there is no 'loss of revenue' involved. ... Wake up, technology allows us to do all sorts of things today we couldn't do 100 years ago. 100 years ago, you had to use candles to light your house at night. If I install electricity, am I 'stealing' from the candle maker? Apparently, in your mind, I AM. But I'm not, I'm using technology to light my house, thereby DEPRIVING the candle maker of money, so why aren't we all paying into a pool to support the candle makers? Can you replicate a replicator? 
(and if you had a replicator why would you replicate fast food instead of a real burger?)
Actually, these days, that's exactly what the candle makers would do. (Actually, that kind of tactic was used back in the dark/middle ages when new products/technology threatened an existing industry. RIAA - paving the way back to the dark ages!)
Remember, for the RIAA it was never about lost sales. It's always been about the fact that they had a stranglehold on music sales - if you want to be a successful musician, you HAVE to work for the RIAA. The Internet has changed that and artists are relizing that they don't have to give 90%+ of the proceeds from their work to the labels any longer - they can do it all themselves, and the RIAA is obsolete. (Never mind the fact that file sharing is free advertising for music and if anything, increases sales in the long run.)
Come to think of it, a replicator would be deemed illegal and immoral these days. After all, if you replicate food, you're putting farmers and the industries they supply out of business. That's not an acceptable price for ending world hunger. The whole Star Trek idea of "everybody gets what they need/want" will never happen without a major change to basic human nature. Those who are in positions of power simply wouldn't allow it as it would lessen their ability to control others. |
