Back The TRUCK UP: buying v downloading

In a recent post on Jefferson, etc. I linked to a video that I had thought I’d seen before and then, upon further review, found out that it wasn’t what I thought it was. Confused? Yeah, me too.

The video I linked to is not properly contextualized to my post. When I posted, I thought I was linking to a video claiming “downloading” unauthorized copies is “stealing”. Instead, I unwittingly linked to a different video claiming “buying” unauthorized copies is “stealing”.

WHOA!

This is a HUGE difference. While it’s still absurd to think of buying unauthorized recordings as “stealing” (perhaps “complicity” if I knowingly do it), I understand why some may get angry and wish to call the sellers “pirates” who “steal”.

Check these videos (one & two) out. They are very, very different. And just to add to the confusion, the one that says “downloading” in the youtube title is the one that plays as “buying” while the youtube title claiming “crime” is the one that plays as “downloading”.

Das Rad

A new school year has begun and once again I’ve started my high school technology classes with a viewing of Das Rad. With three sections of the same class, I have ~60 students communicating asynchronously through a Moodle discussion forum.

The film helps get the classes thinking of technology in broader terms than just computing. The discussion gets us past the limited conceptions of technology itself as being ‘good’ or ‘bad’. That is, we begin to see that the beneficial and destructive outcomes of technology use is more an ethical question, intimately connected to human intent.

understanding free software: who is in control?

Microsoft to customers:

As of August 31, 2008, we will no longer be able to support the retrieval of license keys for the songs you purchased from MSN Music or the authorization of additional computers. You will need to obtain a license key for each of your songs downloaded from MSN Music on any new computer, and you must do so before August 31, 2008. If you attempt to transfer your songs to additional computers after August 31, 2008, those songs will not successfully play.

When we use free software, nobody can control us this way.

Steal This Film – Part 2

Cory notes that Steal This Film – Part 2 is now available to thieves. My high school tech class stole Part 1 last semester, following up with research on events surrounding Sweden’s Pirate Party and The Pirate Bay.

As the minuscule amount of readers who follow this blog know, I support granting authors some rights under copyright. As well, I support giving the public the freedom to non-commercially propagate legally obtained copies of published works (aka “share”).

I’m currently leeching Part 2 using BitTorrent (72%-complete). I’m hoping there’s a free software codec to play the .mov file.

Warner’s actions expose their own propaganda

Warner Home Video intends to reduce the price of movies in order to fight “piracy”.

When thieves get a 5-finger discount, the property owner is hurt. As well, the consumer is hurt as compensation for theft usually results in an increase in price of the remaining property for sale. Stealing a shop owner’s property hurts many people. Therefore, it is against the law.

So how then, has Warner miraculously come up with a plan that defies the laws of economics? If millions of people are “stealing” their “property”, it is nonsensical to then lower the price of the remaining movies. Doing so would be economic suicide. That is, unless movies are not “property” at all and therefore, not susceptible to “theft”, not require “protection”, nor demand “compensation” when “stealing” occurs.