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

[Rusi <rustompmody@gmail.com>]

On Sunday, December 14, 2014 1:53:03 PM UTC+5:30, Marko Vojinovic wrote:
> On Sun, 14 Dec 2014 15:45:41 +1000
> Paul Rankin  wrote:
> > 
> > Please don't perpetuate this kind of false Robin Hood myth, it's
> > wilfully ignorant self-interest under a thin veil of trumped up
> > "people vs the system" garbage. Whatever of this self-deception one
> > practices, the truth is piracy is stealing from real people.
> 
> It isn't really stealing because information is not a scarce resource.
> 
> The basic misunderstanding is in the fact that some people want to
> treat information as property, in the face of the fact that
> information is not a concept that can be treated in such a way.
> 
> The entertainment industry have based their business model on the
> mistaken idea of treating information as property, and now they are
> trying to save it from collapsing by the propaganda that copying is the
> same as stealing. But the vast majority of "entertainment consumers" do
> not fall for that fallacy. The business model of selling information is
> conceptually flawed and should be let to die a bitter death, like any
> other flawed business model.
> 
> Artists should make a living by live-performing for audiences and
> securing sponsors to support their creative work. Like the rest of the
> world does. Scientists for example make a living in exactly that way
> --- by being paid to teach science to others and by securing research
> grants. And their creative work is free for everyone to read, copy and
> "consume" free of charge. And this is *never* considered stealing.
> There is no conceptual difference between scientific creativity and
> artistic creativity, and the corresponding "product" (i.e. information)
> should be treated the same way.
> 
> What would prevent a famous actor/composer/writer to make fantastic
> money by giving lessons to others in acting/composing/writing? The
> demagogy that poor sorry artists will starve to death if their recorded
> art is being copied instead of purchased is just that --- a demagogy.

Demagogy... yes, I see a demagogy competition here :-)

Consider
1. The market capitalization of google/amazon etc
2. How much that depends on the contributions of GNU/Linux etc
3. Are the reimbursements reasonable (leave aside remotely fair)?

JFTR I am not blaming the money-spinning corps.
Its just that we do not know yet how to make sense of 'ownership'
in a world where suddenly the links between work (aka sweat/blood)
and physical objects is no longer what it used to be.

Want a single point of blame? Consider rms ;-)