Comments on: Piracy is a real problem

By: Tigro Spottystripes

Tigro Spottystripes — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:49:32 +0000

Perhaps you should make a comic to illustrate the article showing a character in full pirate getup (with strategicly placed logos to make it clear it stands for the big companies) and a little girl that is pressing Play+Record on an oldschooll twodecked cassette player, with the pirate saying “I know what you are, but what am I?” ?

By: Tateru Nino

Tateru Nino — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 04:42:06 +0000

Setting aside – for the moment – robbery and unlawful violence aboard ship, piracy by publishers and film studios (and corporations infringing on patents) was the only other kind of piracy referred to by the term for roughly the last 200 years. It’s the definition I grew up with.

Back then it wasn’t the huge business that it is now, and I think a lot of that has to do with the emotional underpinnings of the term “piracy”. The stigma of piracy clung to record labels, publishers, studios and businesses and kept the incidences down to some degree.

After most of two centuries though, those labels, publishers, studios and businesses have – effectively – redefined the term, and it has come to mean something else in common-use, and as the term “pirate” has come to mean something new, the traditional pirates have flourished as you can see by some of the figures (plenty more are available with just a little Web-searching). The pirates have adopted the term and redefined it to mean somebody else; as if Edward Teach had started calling the Royal Navy pirates, and popularized the usage.

As such, a lot of what was called piracy 30 years ago has fallen out of the public eye, and since doing so has grown *dramatically*. If you were the one doing it would you prefer to still be called a pirate or a practitioner of non-GAAP accounting methods?

Piracy, in all its forms, is (as I have always maintained it to be) serious. I find it interesting that the primary usage of the term is now directed outwards by the industries that traditionally perpetrate it, and that the practice has vastly increased in those industries since the redirection of the word. You might find that interesting too, or you might not.

By: TigroSpottystripes Katsu

TigroSpottystripes Katsu — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:08:51 +0000

Of the three definitions of piracy, the one made popular by MAFIAA and company is the one that is the least piratey, they are the ones making “piracy” loose it’s weight.

By: c3

c3 — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:25:53 +0000

uh.. WHY the post then? What’s your agenda? Why point out “old media” nonethical behavior and look to “redefine” new media unethical behavior by attempting to “neuter” a term like Piracy?

By: Tateru Nino

Tateru Nino — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:47:34 +0000

I don’t think that’s really relevant to the topic of Hollywood accounting. Unless I’m missing some connection….?

By: c3

c3 — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:34:49 +0000

…and this is better than “todays meta model” which is do the work for free, we’ll cash in and maybe youll get a “badge” for your facebook page?

By: Tateru Nino

Tateru Nino — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:03:42 +0000

@c3 Usually a reduced salary is negotiated. Less money now for the promise of a share of profits later.

By: V

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:48:26 +0000

@TigroSpottystripes Katsu: There are quite some musicians already that publish their music themselves (Maybeshewill, Radiohead or NIN come to mind), and a lot of new / small musicians publishing under creative commons on jamendo.com, where you can donate to them directly.

By: c3

c3 — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:22:07 +0000

as screwed up as those examples are.. for the major creators dealing with large media corporations….at least they got salary and paid “something” “real” at the time. and for the staffs they employed- UNIONized mainly as well- they all got enough to put kids in school and pay the morgage.

not the same for those making the content being made for LINDEN, or GOOGLE WAREHOUSE etc. the NEW models so far havent created hardly any mass value for the creative industries actual workers…

new boss is certianly learned the worst from the old boss…

and new media is already 25 years old…;)

and btw to you interface post, that i wont join massivley to comment on..

“There’s over 15 years of realtime 3d interface experience out there. The fact that LL chose a developer that specializes in 2d flash movie websites, is not the professionals fault.

3D games have utlized 3d/ 2d hybrid interfaces since the early 90s. Same for VR simulations/applications etc.

If one searchs out the bios of those given task to the “interfaces” of most of the last 5 years “meta3d companies” that began almost overnight around SL bloggers, one may see why “everything appears new and not known “. But in fact, isnt.”

By: TigroSpottystripes Katsu

TigroSpottystripes Katsu — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 20:30:53 +0000

Someone should setup a service that would forward donations directly to the artists, taking only a small percentage of the donation for the service.

I myself already have some artists in mind that i would like to send donations to if i had the means to get the money there, and i don’t doubt there are lots of people out there that wanna give money to thank the creators of games, movies etc, and would rather download the stuff from the internet for free skipping the thieve and pay the artists directly.

By: Simon Newstead

Simon Newstead — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 03:54:07 +0000

Eye opening post, thanks

By: Ann Otoole InSL

Ann Otoole InSL — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 23:45:22 +0000

So what if you saw your avatar or something you know you made before a movie went into the conceptual design mode show up in that movie? They stole it. It is obvious. They add a disclaimer saying the likeness is a coincidence.

Get your money up front. Same goes for any business involving IP rights.

Lawyers or bullets. Either solves the issue of rich bastards out of control destroying the planet.

By: Erbo Evans

Erbo Evans — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 23:23:04 +0000

This is also a problem in the music industry, as Steve Albini famously wrote about in the 90's, in an article that is still often cited. "Some of your friends are probably already this f***ed."

By: Tateru Nino

Tateru Nino — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 19:33:37 +0000

It’s called “WP Ajax Edit Comments”, and works pretty darn well

By: V

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 19:05:35 +0000

If you use the word “publisher” in a broad sense (i.e. anyone who’s making money by making someone elses creations publically available) the same holds true to Linden Labs, where artists and creators are actually paying the publisher (LL) to make their creations available (and, as a nice ‘side effect’, shape their service, fill it with life and make it appealing).

P.S.: Must be the day of copyright rants.
P.P.S.: What’s this neat plugin called that allows for the editing of comments within 5 minutes?

By: Botgirl Questi

Botgirl Questi — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 18:31:25 +0000

Great post! I think the evidence for actual financial harm from the third kind of piracy isn’t well supported. But it’s pretty well-document that “creative accounting” is customarily used to screw creatives.