Unconfortably Serious Rage #1: My Piracy
So I “steal” a lot of music and video on the internet. Cry me a whole swamp of boo hoo about your copyright nonsense, this is why I do it:
Because illegal downloads are easier do/use/enjoy than legal downloads.
Sure they’re free too, but I know I’d be susceptible to plenty of guilt if there was a reasonable alternative. It’s the ease of use that really drives my piracy. That and a sense of righteous vigilantism that peaks every time something like this happens.
I cannot understand how “content providers” have let this internet stuff sneak up on them. They’ve had years. But invariably I must assume that their offices are rather like my office and that they’ve systematically placed the people least capable of assembling an informed (or even coherent) opinion regarding these things in the final decision-making roles.
It’s interesting how all these years of legitimate providers putting out dramatically inferior products have accustomed otherwise law-abiding citizens to frequenting the black market for digital media, and with impunity. My whole generation, probabaly five years above me and maybe ten years below me, feels intuitively that the stuff put out by record companies and movie studios is DRM encrusted garbage. iTunes recently started turning this around, but for people who had been living with DRM for so long, its going to take a while to break those habits.
It’s great that the internet allows us the tools to punish these companies for enfringing on our fair use. And I’m going to keep on keepin’ on with the illegal downloads until the old people running things learn how to use the computers they have decision-making power over, or start playing more golf. But I’m going to force them to play it like this.
