Game Pirate Sentenced to Prison, Fines, Community Services
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 30th Dec 2010 22:58 UTC
Legal Due to my incessant whining about the evilness of big content, it's easy to forget that despite all the lunacy those guys throw our way, there are also cases where they're simply very much right. The Columbus Dispatch is reporting on the story of Qiang Bi, who has just been sentenced to jail for two and half years for piracy.
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james_gnz
Member since:
2006-02-16

The secondary denotation of the term piracy has been in the dictionary for over a decade and is used in mainstream publications.

I have plenty of complaints with the English language but I also realize I cannot control its evolution.

I disagree. I think we can and should direct the development of language in order to promote clarity. We don't just use language to convey ideas, we use language to think, so if our use of language lacks clarity, then our thought is liable to lack clarity too. Further, I think terms like 'pirate' and 'intellectual property' were made mainstream in the first place by people directing the development of language in order to direct the way others think.

Reply Parent Score: 2

nt_jerkface Member since:
2009-08-26

I see you fail to grasp the futility of the situation. Go ahead and write a letter to the mainstream media outlets. I'll write it for you in fact:

Dear CNN/FOX/NBC/CBS/ABC/BBC,

Please prioritize words for accuracy rather than rhetorical value.

- A concerned citizen.

Reply Parent Score: 4

james_gnz Member since:
2006-02-16

I'm actually not convinced the situation is entirely futile. I think there is a possibility that OSNews and some other tech related media outlets might reconsider referring to copyright infringement as 'piracy' if enough readers raised concerns about the questionable nature of the term. I suspect there are those in the BBC who genuinely care for accuracy and balance, and may reconsider the term if a decent number of tech related media outlets stopped using it, and the matter was brought to their attention. I even think it's possible that other media outlets might follow suit.

Reply Parent Score: 2