OSNews > Thread > "RE: wah?" by -oblio-

Pirate Bay Founders Found Guilty, Massive Fine, 1 Year in Jail

Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 17th Apr 2009 11:15 UTC, submitted by csynt

Old World 1, New World 0. The four defendants in the landmark The Pirate Bay case, taking place in Sweden, have all been found guilty, and sentenced to one year in jail. They also received a hefty fine of USD 3.58 million to 17 ~~American~~ media companies, among which are Warner Bros. Entertainment, MGM Pictures, Columbia Pictures Industries, Twentieth Century Fox Film, Sony BMG, Universal, EMI, Blizzard Entertainment, Sierra Entertainment, and Activision. The defendants have already stated they will appeal the decision.

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RE: wah?

by -oblio- on Fri 17th Apr 2009 12:42 UTC in reply to "wah?"

Member since:
2008-05-27

What upset the Americans with their hero, whom they greeted as the most welcomed visitor since Lafayette (Forster, I, 186), was his stand in favor of International Copyright. Without it American publishers were paying no royalties on imported manuscripts. Few people of good will thought the policy equitable, but their objection was to Dickens' use of his platform as a guest artist to speak out on business and politics. When he did so, some accused him of petty self-serving, in spite of the fact that International Copyright would also serve the interests of American authors, then ignored or short-changed by publishers who could easily pirate foreign materials. In any event, Dickens was equally disturbed by his sponsors' undemocratic desire to muzzle him, to make him take the stance of an uncritical hero, as if democracy were a fait accompli on this side of the Atlantic. As the copyright issue inflated, it became for Dickens a symptom of a much more pervasive disease, name the American preoccupation with image-making.
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/pubd/dickens_usa.html

Hypocrite. Piracy is only when the weak commit it, it's law when the strong ones do it.

Edited 2009-04-17 12:43 UTC

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RE[2]: wah?

by Denbish on Fri 17th Apr 2009 14:01 in reply to "RE: wah?"

Member since:
2009-03-25

That was over 200 years ago, it's time to move on.

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RE[2]: wah?

by MamiyaOtaru on Fri 17th Apr 2009 15:36 in reply to "RE: wah?"

Member since:
2005-11-11

Maybe you can remind me of the time period in which Dickens was alive. Then you can explain to me what the behavior of publishers in the United States at that time has to do with anyone who is alive today.

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RE[3]: wah?

by -oblio- on Fri 17th Apr 2009 18:49 in reply to "RE[2]: wah?"

Member since:
2008-05-27

1. It is still hypocrisy when you want that everyone forgets your sins just because some time has passed. Just because it was "ok" (legally) 160 years ago doesn't make it morally correct.

2. This is fundamentally a problem of wealth distribution and added value. The artists certainly generate added value. But who gets to be wealthy?

The point is that this is an issue which doesn't really depend on a moment in history - how much money do artists make (or at least how well they live compared to the rest of the population during their lifetime). I'd say that the average artist has about the same financial situation as he did 200 years ago - of course related to his time.

I hope you do realize that most of the money in almost all the creative domains goes to the middle man - not to the artist directly. For example a while ago TLC (pop band) was hugely popular. And they got about 5 cents per dollar earned.

What we have now is pirates fighting against middle men, neither of which I like. But I'd much rather have the middle men under pressure, trying to actually generate some added value, than them being left alone.

And the difference between Dicken's time and now is that the middle men have grown much stronger, have allied and made huge companies which are able to defend their rights everywhere. I don't believe that many artists will starve, even if they never sell an album from now on. Anyone heard of live shows? Concerts, tours, TV shows, parties, etc, etc?

Edited 2009-04-17 18:50 UTC

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RE[3]: wah?

by asupcb on Fri 17th Apr 2009 19:52 in reply to "RE[2]: wah?"

Member since:
2005-11-10

The arguments for intellectual "property" remain essentially the same. Certain aspects of life have not changed dramatically in the last couple of hundred years. Outside of dramatic decreases in poverty due to the acceptance of market economies, very little is different.

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 2