Gaiman on Copyright Piracy and the Web

Neil Gaiman talks to the Open Rights Group about how the internet affects the books and publishing industry

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  Nonprofits & Activism

[iamcornholiothegreat]

The first time i decided to read sandman i downloaded the first five issues, then i downloaded all of them, when i was reading by the halfway like issue 30, i went to a bookstore and bought all volumes of "absolute sandman"...when something its good as that you need to have it in your shelf...the original thing...the real fucking deal...not something on a screen...

[MMODoubter]

Something IS gained, but nothing is lost. Which is why it is not stealing.

It IS cheating however, but the companies try to cheat us as well, which is why I have no objections to downloading for personal use.

Copying and distributing someone else's work for profit IS immoral.

[ziegogoboy]

Books probably benefit the most from piracy, since they have already integrated a form of it into their method of distribution (libraries anyone?). Its that a book is DAUNTING considering you may or may not like it if you're not familiar with the author. Being linked it for free can sometimes be that push to want to own it and others like it. That, and owning a book and feeling it for most people beats reading it on a screen, on top of the aesthetic pleasure of displaying it.

[Michael James Lawrence]

Stay positive when people are stealing the sh*t out of your work calling it copy writing also known as pirating the sh*t out of your work and just call it advertising; genius

[Michael James Lawrence]

The mans got a great point;

[TheHallsofTara]

This man is, quite possibly, the most creative mind that exists on this planet today. If piracy doesn't hurt him, there's no way it's hurting the little guy- unless they suck and nobody wants their stuff, even if it's free.

As an artist, that is your own fault, and no anti-piracy law can help you.

[CaptainMisery86]

I get it. My metaphor was bad. You had to of seen all the people telling me this as it has been 4 months.

As for the issue here. Stealing is taking something without the permission of the owner. The definition makes no mention of the owner losing their property.

[econogate]

"So far as the theories of mathematics are about reality, they are not certain; so far as they are certain, they are not about reality." A Einstein Apparently many people have never heard of this notion. What we have maybe people obsessed with specific certainties of how reality must exist, and ignoring any other possibilities being shown and or presented to them that contradict their notions. Erasing contrary evidence maybe no different than being a ostrich when the lion comes along.

[econogate]

A program can exist in my head, yours or everyones. Just as a belief system can plauge the mind with memes that create chaos for those that adhere to very strict belief systems. In the anti-copyists world everything that doesn't fit into the world of natural law, which maybe entirely a fiction, made up by man in order for man to realize the purpose of his existence. You'll find no natural law that can be verified as you can with the theory of relativity. These maybe nothing more than human games

[econogate]

According to the rules of general semantics not even books, cds or movies really the point of life, these all exist as simulations of existence, they maybe more or less so not the same as eating an apple pie, reading about a illegal apple pie just cannot be made into the same thing, non-Aristotelian logic destroys the arguments often made by anti-copyists. In the same sense the map does not equal the territory, though in a sense it may seem more real than reality, like simulation.

[HieiUmbra]

He's specifically talking about digital/physical book sharing, not selling the copies. Sure people will try to sell it, but unless you live in a third world country or order off of shady websites, you'll never run across those fakes being sold in a (non secondhand) store.

Piracy is wrong, but it's not bad, which is the point this video is making.

[John Whitman]

Surely, Gaiman can understand that there is a difference between putting your own book out and someone stealing it and reselling it or otherwise counterfeiting it. There is a difference between a copyright holder putting his work out for free via legal channels and cooperating with organized crime.

There is no justification for piracy. An author offering his own book free is not piracy. But, "copying" and "sharing" are euphemisms for counterfeiting. Piracy is organized crime. It's wrong.