Are You a Pirate?
Mar 13, 2008 Movies, TV, Technology
And by pirate, I mean downloading tv shows, movies, and other things off of the internet illegally.
I have mixed feelings. On one hand, paying for it is definitely the right thing to do. In the case of an up-and-coming artist, you are literally taking money out of their pockets if you don’t buy their music. Also, with the availability of DRM-free music at a great price, there is really no need to download music illegally anymore. But recently, a scenario presented itself where I justifies downloading a tv show off of a torrent site.
Some friends of mine wanted to watch the Academy wards a few weeks ago, but because they work pretty late sometimes, they could not watch it. Since they don’t have a Tivo, they were out of luck. They asked me to record it and then burn it to dvd for them. Well, after 3 days of trying to get it from my DVR to a DVD, I decided that the only other option was to download it off of the internet, then burn it to dvd for them.
In a situation like that, I really had no other choice. There was not a re-broadcast of the Oscars, so pirating it was the only option.
Was I justified in this scenario?
Question of the Day
Feb 8, 2008 Current Events, Questions
What pushes your buttons? What can really get your going? What will it take to get your stand up on your soap box?
Wow, there are so many. One big one is when someone gets a far worse punishment than they deserve for something; when there is an injustice due to a technicality.
For example, last year, someone in Virginia was arrested for filming 20 seconds of Transformers on their little point-and-shoot camera. It was this girl’s 19th birthday, and she and her friends were just goofing off. Check this out:
Sejas liked the movie so much that she decided to film a short clip of the movie to share with her little brother. She thought he would also like to come see the movie at the theater. She filmed 20 seconds of the “Transformers” movie so that she could show it to him later and see if he might like to go see the movie.
Ok, no harm done really. If anything, she was going to bring in business to the theater.
Regal Cinemas of Ballston Commons in Arlington, Virginia pressed charges against Sejas and wanted to make an example of her in an effort to stop movie piracy.
For goodness sake. O, and about this supposed “criminal”?
Sejas is a Bolivian immigrant who works two part-time jobs in order to pay for her college education in the United States. She had no criminal record and was terrified by the police. She and her boyfriend had no idea what they had done wrong, and had not realized that filming the 20 second clip to share with her younger brother was against the law.
See, this kind of stuff really gets me going. Sometimes, even though the law is the law, I think exceptions should be made. Especially in cases like this where clearly no harm was being done, and she just wanted to get her brother to come see the movie. This is an injustice, and this kind of crap happens all of the time!
So there is my answer. How about you?
Read the full article about this story here.
Tags: arrest, injustice, Movies, mpaa, piracy, qotd, transformers, unfair
