Copying Is Not Theft - Official Version

Our free culture anthem gets a fabulous arrangement by Nik Phelps. Vocals by Connie Champagne. Animation and song by Nina Paley.

• Category

  Film & Animation

[BelleAndTheBoy]

You can't guarantee that whatsoever. People created novels and songs before the contrivance of IP and they'll do so after it's eliminated. There's lots of ways to profit off of your hard work without violating people's property rights. Having the government violently enforce an unjust monopoly based on the absurd notion that you can "own" a concept is not one of them.

[Alexander de Jeger]

Theft: "The wrongful act of taking away someone's property". When something is copied, the original file is not removed, so it 's no theft. The money he would have made can not be considered theft, because he didn't have it in the first place.

[xxan84]

Do this. Work for 4 years, invest a ton to create a AAA game and then when I copy it for free(and everybody else) and you don't mind us taking it we can continue this discussion. To that point all I see is "I want free stuff".

[Akelmn]

Who said it's one less copy of the song the creator could get money for? People can pirate, then buy, or even buy the song several times. You have no way to guarantee a customer would have bought it (or wouldn't have).

Reselling and lending also seems to have the same effect: the buyer enjoys his media without paying the creator.

[Akelmn]

By that logic, borrowing a CD from a friend or lending your movie to someone is also wrong because they aren't paying.

Consumers don't like having to be online to use their media and. They also don't like online passes in games nor any kind of limitation imposed by the manufacturer. These artificial limitations aren't present in physical property why shouldn't it be the same with media?

[bobplatypus]

No matter how they put it, pirating gives access to something without going through the subscriptions or price tags accompanying the song, game, movie, etc.

This is damaging to an industry and there is little to no reason to pirate unless you just turned 14 and want to feel you're rebelling against some unjust system

Kids, please do community service instead, it's a much better use of your time

[llirbwerdnadivad]

It's much like if you do a job for $100, then only get $80 as payment. The money wasn't stolen, it just never got there in the first place. Personally, I think that the whole money issue is ridiculous, as both the people who want to keep their money and the people who want to earn their money tend to have enough to go around, and ignore the people who really need more money, but there you go. Copying information is considered to be intellectual theft.

[llirbwerdnadivad]

 The issue is that the video relates to physically copying/stealing something, whereas the issues at hand go beyond the physical. If someone copies a song, that is one more copy of the song for people to listen to, but also one less copy of the song that the creator could get money for. It technically doesn't fit the definition of 'theft,' since the money didn't end up ever reaching the creator, but it still deprives them of that amount. As millions and millions of people do this, it all adds up

[plzBSirius]

What will probably occur, is that instead of heavyweight entities manhandling the market with unfair monopolies and current IP laws, original creators will probably have to rely on charity to continue making content. For instance, a software company will have to earn its reputation with the public, who will then, because of a desire to see more content from this company, give them money. If you don't think this is possible, I encourage you to browse kickstarter(.com).

[plzBSirius]

No, a correct analogy would be if someone built a home, then someone else came along and saw that home, and decided to build a completely different home exactly like it. That's not destructive, that's positive. "Imitation is the best form of flattery." or some such drivel. Right?

[plzBSirius]

So realistically, let's imagine that someone just copies music, that people make to (hopefully) make a living. Newsflash: not a single person who becomes rich by producing music actually starts out life that way. They have a job, and THEN if they get lucky, they can quit that job. Now, you assume that without IP laws people would never get rewarded financially for their content. But you assume incorrectly. Popularity = money, plain and simple. Society finds a way to reward those who reward it.