I have been reading of the latest round of interventions by the large Media groups so stop people pirating their goods and believe there is an interesting and very human dynamic that has not been well explored on the Internet.
The act of sharing – taking a piece of music or software – and physically sharing it as I used to do with the old records / cassettes and had many friends lend me a record to listen to has expanded to include people you do not socialise with in your own locale but that is none-the-less a community bonding experience. I have this, you should experience it too. There is no difference here than in sharing food or sharing anything you have paid for. By extension the media shared can now be shared more widely and we have an interesting dynamic – the corporations have made this act of sharing illegal.
Because it loses them money. But the act of sharing in this way has aways lost them money.
Piracy to take copyrighted goods and copy them to sell as your own goods is of course theft. It is and always has been illegal no matter what kind of goods you are talking about, that is why we have patents. But to outlaw the necessary human act of sharing as a show of friendship is actually, impossible to do. Corporations are trying to turn back the tide of evolution. A far better strategy from their point of view would be to lower salaries and product prices because more talent is giving away their media and selling physical products in addition to their music and films. What is actually bought is changing, and the seller and buyer relationship has altered forever.