I pay for Netflix and Hulu Plus streaming (the latter of which still comes with ads). If it's not on there, I feel like I've done my due diligence and have no ethical dilemma with pirating.
I tried to find a $200 Porsche, but couldn't so I had no problem stealing one.
I tried to find a $200 Porsche, but couldn't so I had no problem stealing one.
At first glance this might seem a fine refutation of the earlier point, but upon deeper inspection, it falls back on the fallacy that digital data is analogous to tangible property. By stealing a Porsche (whatever be your motivation) you are denying another person the right to his car. However, the same is untrue of pirating.
I am firmly of the belief that until we abandon the false and forced analogies and treat digital data and IP as something new, something that requires us to work out ethics and moral of afresh, we'll be stuck in this rut of old business models forcing new technology to fit into their mold and the consumers suffering because of bureaucracy.
I'll go further and state that the precise reason why Movie Studios and Recording Labels seemingly don't want to innovate and adopt new technologies to their benefit is precisely because of this thinking that immediately clouds all other possible arguments (oh, and maybe the people in charge of making decisions have got to the top because of their understanding of old technologies and therefore have little incentive to abandon that and embrace newer ways of doing business) /rant
I am firmly of the belief that until we abandon the false and forced analogies and treat digital data and IP as something new, something that requires us to work out ethics and moral of afresh, we'll be stuck in this rut of old business models forcing new technology to fit into their mold and the consumers suffering because of bureaucracy.
It's not analogous to stealing a Porsche, but it's not analogous to nothing either.
There's nothing particularly novel about it, people have been stealing services in ways that don't directly deprive anyone else for... well, quite some time. They've been sneaking into theaters, sneaking onto buses, and otherwise dishonestly using services that the honest people pay for, and which couldn't exist without them. It's just the old free rider problem.
Morally there's nothing "new" about it. And it's not particularly difficult to work out the answer to a question about "is it morally acceptable to sneak into a non-full movie theater?" The only question is whether you're prepared to behave immorally to save a few bucks.
Personally I value my self-respect a bit higher than that.
The studios are terrified because the moment someone figures out an effective metric, they're toast. Physical unit sales are easy - one CD sold, X dollars received, with corresponding breakdown to show what value they actually add (lying about their value-add is another thing entirely). One digital download - it's not so clear.
Ooh, a car analogy! Here's mine: I went to a car dealer and offered to pay for a copy of a car. But he wouldn't sell me one, so I found someone else who had the same kind of car and made a copy of theirs instead.
Analogies between digital and physical items regarding piracy are always fallacies.
His point is that if he CAN'T pay for it, having no avenue to give them revenue, then it doesn't hurt the content creator for the OP to consume the video for free.
When was the last time you talked to your friends about that episode that was broadcasted eight days ago? In case of media time is a very important aspect of the product that has a significant value.
Right, if I actually interacted with a distributor in any way, you might make a case that I owe them something. But the whole point is, that I have no interaction with the distributor, so I don't owe them anything. I'm not using their services, so I don't pay them for those services.
The content creator typically sells some or all rights to their content to a distributor. Often it's that money that allows the content to be made in the first place, and if the distributors weren't there you wouldn't have the same range as content as is available today.
The distributor is a very important part of the creation process at the moment.
And if distributors had anything to sell me that I wanted, maybe I would give them some money for it. But they don't sell anything I want to buy, and that's why I'm not giving them any money.
You don't want to buy it because you don't like the price they want to charge for the thing you want to consume, or you don't want to buy it because you have no interest in the product they're offering?
Actually, they do offer it (on Fox.com and Hulu.com) the next day to people who prove they are current Dish customers. They're surely extracting some money from Dish for this arrangement (the way ESPN 3 does from some ISPs), and they created a situation where you can indirectly pay for access to the cotent the next day (assuming Dish is available to you in your part of the world).
The way i'm reading it it's free to watch the next day on Hulu for existing Dish subscribers, or you can watch it on Hulu the next day if you're a Hulu Plus subscriber:
He isn't paying Hulu per episode watched, only per month. Fox and Hulu still get their money.
But, by your logic, purchasing any non-expiring stored media, such as a DVD, would deprive "the content creator (well, a distributor) the chance to make money from you consuming the content at some point in the future."
>He isn't paying Hulu per episode watched, only per month. Fox and Hulu still get their money.
...if Fox gets a cut of the Hulu subscription cost regardless of whether that individual watches any Fox content during the subscription period or not.
> But, by your logic, purchasing any non-expiring stored media, such as a DVD, would deprive "the content creator (well, a distributor) the chance to make money from you consuming the content at some point in the future."
Yes. But they've made your money off your consumption of that content at some point in time.
He hardly exhausted all avenues. He listed two avenues which cost a total of about $20 per month. Does anyone really believe that we will ever have access to all movies and television shows for $20 per month?
I tried to find a $200 Porsche, but couldn't so I had no problem stealing one.