Re: pirate bay, w3m, and the interface is just an interface (BEST post ever)

[Emanuel Berg <embe8573@student.uu.se>]

Paul Rankin <paul@tilk.co> writes:

>> Look, I'm not advocating piracy - or saying you
>> shouldn't do it, for that matter - I'm saying
>
> Look, you quite clearly are, which is quite
> offensive for those of us who believe that all
> people should be afforded equal rights under the
> law, including that tiny minority who strive to
> improve the world through the creation of art. It's
> not up to you to decide that this minority does not
> deserve the right to the work to which they give
> their lives.
>
> Please refrain from posting such discriminatory
> ideology to a public list.

I'm not discriminating.

It is a fact that some people can buy all material
they want for money they earned after years of honest
labor.

Some people can buy all material they want for money
they got from their affluent parents working in
offices mostly doing no good.

And yet other people cannot buy it, because they
cannot afford it, so they download it free of charge
and it doesn't hurt anyone.

I don't see how this group is any worse than those
other groups, or any other you can think of, for that
matter. If there is a book and someone wants to read
it, or ditto watch a movie, why not? I cannot see the
harm in that and I would suspect many artists would
want the maximum spread of their creations, including
people who would rather buy bread and beer if they
were given the cash to buy the book/movie.

You might have noticed how I shared my code without
blinking. While I don't consider myself an "artist", I
don't really see "art" anywhere: I see craft, and I am
definitely a craftsman as much as any author writing a
book.

> ... including that tiny minority who strive to
> improve the world through the creation of art ...

In order for people to be creative, they must have
access to creative material. Making material available
in numerous forms boosts creativity. But not only
indirectly: my w3m hacks are an example of creativity
fueled by the piracy itself. This isn't unheard of: do
you know of the ultra-creative C64 demo scene in
Sweden and other countries in the 80s? All that
marvelous work originated from the swapping business -
the "sneakernet" as it sometimes is called today, long
after. Google "Fairlight" and "Triad" - the most known
groups - and tell me that isn't creative. With no
money involved, and accessible to anyone, the whole
demo scene a direct offspring of the crack intros to
pirated games... If people had cared for the laws,
would any of that happened?

-- 
underground experts united