Friday, May 09, 2008

The pirates are out to get you

Which anti-piracy propaganda video is more stupid, dishonest, condescending, misleading, pointless, and irritating? This one or this one? (I just can't believe they actually say "the pirates are out to get you" and "don't let the pirates burn a hole in your pocket".)

"Steal This Movie" part II. The information about the history of control of (mass-) communication is fascinating, there is much I had no idea about.
I have to admit, though, that the film is very one-sided. It's not so much a documentary as an argument. I am mostly on the same side as the argument ("information should flow freely"), but I also have some questions. Like "will information and art flow so freely one day that it becomes nearly impossible to make a living from making or selling it?"

For example, it is very expensive to make a good movie or television show. Will the economy of this collapse? That is hard to imagine. But will payment still happen because of some remnant of technological control or herding of customers? Or will it happen because of the power of the honor system, because people want to give a monetary reward out of the goodness of their heart? "If you liked this episode of Eureka, which you got for free over bittorrent, please give a dollar to the studio so they can pay the actors and set builders".

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

"If you steal movie or music demons will rise from cracks in the ground and rape the president of the United States in the ass."

...

"Since I just realized most of you would want that, disregard what I've just said."

A good counter from a pirate's perspective is "Steal This Film" and "Steal This Film II". The first one is mainly the story behind Pirate Bay and what happened when it was raided by the police at the behest of the US. The second film examines the cultural aspects of what "pirate" technology means to the distribution and sharing of information. Here's the second one on Youtube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=CoAEclDKbx8

Pascal [P-04referent] said...

Haven't watched them yet ("the terrorists are out to get us" in Lebanon these days, yatta-yatta, ordinary madness like in my rowdy youth good ol' days), but I saw this newsflash on TV very recently: some new (and highly awaited?) PC videogame will require the users to connect to the internet at least every 10 days as part of an anti-piracy verification measure.

It's official then: I've found the best incentive so far to GO WITH piracy. I've caught the anarchist militant virus! Since the only versions of the game NOT treating me with a firsthand presumption of guilt would be, precisely, the ones pirated and hacked to remove this "feature". Why the fuck should I report every 10 days, "Hey officer, it's me, citizen Smith, still not violating the law, okay? See you in ten."

What next? Mandatory fingerprinting and biometry for all users, and registration in a government database for video gamers? A brain microchip connected to a guilt detector and delivering jolts to those who don't walk straight enough?

I mean, come on, try to imagine the same kind of patronizing tyranny on a book, or a DVD, or a music CD, or a garment, anything with sone creative license involved...

To be serious, I don't even remember the name of that defamatory game, I don't play on PC, I don't PLAN to get it from bootleg as a protest gesture, and in fact what I WOULD probably do would be boycott the damn company at the very least until they stop insulting me as a customer. Probably much longer than that for good measure. Let them try in private whether their game discs make good suppositories.

Pascal [P-04referent] said...

Hey, Eric, yours is way better than "every time you masturbate, God kills a kitten"! :-)

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Thanks, Eric, I've wanted to see the second one.
(Who said the president thing?)

Pascal, don't hold back. :)

Pascal [P-04referent] said...

All working and no jerking
Make Jackie-boy grumpy and annoying

All working and no jerking
Make Jackie-boy grumpy and annoying

All working and no jerking
Make Jackie-boy grumpy and annoying

All working and no jerking
Make Jackie-boy grumpy and annoying

All working and no jerking
Make Jackie-boy grumpy and annoying


HEEEEERE'S JOLLY ROGER!

Anonymous said...

"I've caught the anarchist militant virus!"

Anarchy looks more and more appealing. Not the chaotic, "I'm going to kill and plunder and destroy to get everything I want" kind of Anarchy, the only brand of Anarchy we're presented with by the government to make sure we're good and scared of it. No, I'm talking about the other kind, the "order by choice" Anarchy. There are potential flaws in it, and it would take a while for us to breed enough of the nonsense out of the human species for it to work, but no matter what it can't fuck us over any worse than our current governments already have. In fact I'd wager the only reason we "need" them right now is because they have created that need, first through wars, then by breeding insanity within the populous through fear and materialism. We've all gone along with it so just as much, if not more, of the blame rides with us. But at the end of the day enough is enough; the buck has to stop somewhere and it's got to start with the individual.

As for where the quote is, it's something I made up. If I quote something from another source I'll always indicate that it's not mine. I put quotes around some of the stuff I say because it reads like dialog from a story, and it doesn't fit with the rest of what I've written, but it does serve my point.

Anonymous said...

*As for where the quote is from

By god I wish there was an edit feature on these comments.

Anonymous said...

In response to what Eo added to the original post, I think people are more than willing to give money to creators who've made something they like. It's essentially busking on a bigger scale. Would it work if everything immediately shifted to that kind of system? I don't think so. Not on a large scale. Some people do make a living that way, but we're too familiar with what we've got to adjust to a total revamp of the system that quickly (assuming corporations are still holding on for dear life in this scenario and people don't seek alternatives prior to being told they exist). Furthermore, creative alternatives, or transitional constructs, have not been introduced because it doesn't suit the business models of major corporations. They're still making a lot of money by their current business models so there isn't much incentive to change, even if they'll eventually have to in order to survive.

I'm of the opinion that content is incredibly adaptable and there will always be a way of living off the stuff you produce. Exactly how that might happen under some circumstances is unclear, but the fear-based speculation isn't helping anything (fearful does not and has never meant realistic (and note, I'm not implying the questions posed by Eolake are fear-based)). This is fear of death in a different form; this is fear that if things are not as we know them today then there will be nothing at all tomorrow. Because of this, workable alternatives get stifled and we're convinced our only recourse is to patch up a sinking ship as fast as we can.

I use the term "we" loosely since it's obvious the bulk of the population isn't buying the bullshit. We're still buying stuff even when it's freely available on the internet for nothing. We're still downloading despite the propaganda.

I'm one of those people that will download lots of content but if I like it I'll gladly pay for it. That doesn't mean an honor system would be adequate by itself (that conclusion would be too superficial) but it does indicate we've got other options than nazi-like copy protection and lawsuits against downloaders.

I'm actually interested to see the result of revamping our trade system altogether. That would put a new spin on this debate. It's likely that we're gonna have to do that because the current economy isn't sustainable in the long-term.

Steve said...

I always preferred this one: http://youtube.com/watch?v=MTbX1aMajow. ;)

Anonymous said...

And now for something completely different:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zUe-Ebe8dWU&feature=related

Anonymous said...

Nah, we won't do that.
He might enjoy it.

Pascal [P-04referent] said...

Re. anarchy:
Clearly in the facts it is a functional system. As soon as you look beyond the horizon of ordinary citizens in an organized State. Politics in these same States, and the politicians, follow only their own rules, usually in a bad way, the same "bad" anarchy which they scarecrowate us with. I won't even give examples about the rules of INTERNATIONAL politics and how countries deal with each other.

I'll give one very actual and spectacular example of truer anarchy: Hezbollah. (I know, I'm asking for trouble. :-) They have no official obedience. They're under constant denigration from the US administration (which by itself is a compliment!). And given what I see today and which the biased Western media won't tell you (but sometimes unwittingly DO reveal anyway), I foretell that the chronic ineptitude of the international community in acting about Lebanon's matters will not lead to a local catastrophe, simply because these anarchists have far more sense than some superpower I won't name, and blind havoc is definitely not on their agenda. Forget all the pre-Iraq-style lies: the leader of Hezbollah is the complete opposite of a BinLaden. The new world scene simply NEEDS such a counter-power.
Incidentally, I'm not advocating Hezbollah's politics in any way, I just wish to reveal a frequently occulted fact: its former leader in the old days of international terrorism is the sworn enemy of today's Hassan Nasrallah, who only cares about the national influence of his community and fighting Israel.
The guy's far more reassuring than some State leader whom I won't name. For one thing, he uses God's name far less often in his speeches!

Re. modern-day busking:
It so happens that I was just watching a program hosted by Patrick Sébastien, which consists entirely of music-hall acts. Of very high quality, performers from all over the world, many famous in the USA. That program's restored the demand for such performances, and reminded the public of their vast merit as hard-working individual entertainers.
Busking can definitely work.
I mean, how many people have the complete collection of their favorite musician's works on high-quality CD recordings, and yet they will pay significant amounts to go listen to the very same in a live concert? The big companies should just THINK for a change.

"this is fear that if things are not as we know them today then there will be nothing at all tomorrow."
(Eep!) You mean... tomorrow won't still be a Saturday? EVERYBODY FOR HIMSELF! WOMEN AND CHILDREN AND ME FIRST! YAAAAAHHH!

"it's obvious the bulk of the population isn't buying the bullshit."
The manure economy IS facing a crisis, but still holding on. ;-P

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

I am personally only happy that some people share my content within limits, since it's free advertising.

Freer flow brings new customers, but it also brings more people who feel no need to pay. My concern is really whether the first or the second trend is the more powerful one in the long run, as the flow gets freer.