Latest Lab Talk...Is File Sharing Stealing?

[dacalion]

I have been MAD busy with my life and in the lab, trying to meet deadlines and such. Yesterday, yes Sunday, my peeps got into the issue of file sharing being theft or not. So I'd like to see what you guys think.

Here's my view...if somebody gives you something, it's not stealing. Now as a businessman, I understand how this effects the company/owner of whatever is being shared but still, thats just a part of the business.

I look at the internet as a tool for communicating, sharing, selling, buying and the list goes on and on...Businesses seem to look at the internet as a tool for making money only and thats crazy in my opinion. If someone choses to share a file with me, and it's something that I want, Im gonna take it and say thank you. If I have something that someone else can use then I don't mind sharing it with them, thats just life to me.

One of the keyboard players that I work with will not let you copy a CD that he has but will take a copied CD from you...lol..go figure?!?!?! His reasoning is because it hurts the industry if he buys something and shares it with someone else. He feels that if he pays for it then so should you but at the same time, he will gladly accept something that you paid for. I just don't get that philosophy.

I'll stop there, I think you guys get the picture...what do you all think about file sharing? Is it right or wrong?

MOF

 

[MPCaddict]

One of the keyboard players that I work with will not let you copy a CD that he has but will take a copied CD from you...lol..go figure?!?!?! His reasoning is because it hurts the industry if he buys something and shares it with someone else. He feels that if he pays for it then so should you but at the same time, he will gladly accept something that you paid for. I just don't get that philosophy.

he's just a cheap bastard who only thinks for himself. You don't need to surround yourself with such people.

Back on the topic tho, I know it's illegal to share CDs, movies and files. And I feel guilty as hell. But I also look at it from a different perspective. Kinda like try before you buy. I do this all the time. If I like an album that I download, I go out and buy it to support the artist or whatever.

Maybe folks can chime in

 

[dacalion]

he's just a cheap bastard who only thinks for himself. You don't need to surround yourself with such people.

I know what youre saying but a little bit to his defense, he's not cheap overall, it's just the CD thing. I mean, he's on point with just about everything else. He's the kind of guy that will give you the shirt off his back but not a CD to dub, it's weird.
And, he's a damn good keyboardist so I really do need him around.

Back on the topic tho, I know it's illegal to share CDs, movies and files.

This is MY problem, I just don't see how it can be called "illegal", even from the stand point of the company/owner of the material being shared. To me it's no more illegal than somebody giving me a piece of candy or is that illegal too?...lol...some citys have some strange @$$ old laws that the public isn't aware of.

MOF

 

[slik da relic]

One of the keyboard players that I work with will not let you copy a CD that he has but will take a copied CD from you...lol..go figure?!?!?! His reasoning is because it hurts the industry if he buys something and shares it with someone else. He feels that if he pays for it then so should you but at the same time, he will gladly accept something that you paid for. I just don't get that philosophy.

this dude doesnt want u "freeloadin" off of shit he bought, givin u a bullshit excuse... he's tryin to prevent it from becomin a habit... meanwhile, as long as ur willin to give up ur stuff, he'll be there 1st in line to recieve it... classic.

da relic

 

[Lazy Eyes]

Seems like you got fucked over by a greedy freeloader man! ghehe.. better get your shit right and hit us up with some nice melodies that dude laid down for you..

 

[dacalion]

hahaha nah, it's next to imposible to screw over the boss! (this one anyway). His work is exclusive, I couldn't use it if I wanted to...lol. Anyway, File Sharing was the point...Im curious how you guys feel about that.

=)
MOF

 

[Kontents]

My Personal opinion on this is,

Its not a bad thing if you are not Downloading the music,movies,games to sell. I feel that as long as you are only using them for personal enjoyment then why not.

Now uploading can seem like nothing, but being a seeder is a lot more illegal then dowloading because you are distributing something that you are not authorized to contribute as freeware.

either way its illegal and if you care about the artist or actor or whatever then atleast buy one CD or DVD from them here and there.

 

[2GooD Productions]

Technically yes its illegal, but with so many people now sharing files, its impossible to enforce the law.
They tried taking Pirate Bay to court and lost, so what does that say?

 

[Relic]

They lost ? Hooray!!

I think that the internet was made to share information freely, thats what we are doing..
Id have to be a naive asshole if I thought that as soon as I sold something that is digital or can be made digital it wasnt gonna get pirated.
Hell pirating is a sincere form of flattery..I doubt anyone is dling thousands of ChildAbuse lps right now! lol
I say disiminate it all! And if you wanna support the artist, then go buy it.
I have already paid loads for drum kits and dont feel bad about getting the rest free for life.

 

[Fade]

Technically it's "illegal" but really it's not us they should be targeting. They seem to always classify regular file sharing between friends with someone in China making mass copies of the new Hollywood blockbuster. Big difference.

Years ago when vinyl was the way to go with music, people would always "tape" the album off their friend onto a cassette so they could listen to it in their walkman. Nowadays it's basically the same thing except you have millions of "friends" and they're all over the globe, plus it's much quicker to get the files.

For example, let's say I buy the Transformers DVD then I lend it to my friend so he can watch it at home. Once he has, let's say he decides he wants to copy it - what happens here? Are we both supposed to go to jail because of this? Because I gave him the DVD and he went and made a copy? What if I lend my friend a book I just finished reading? Where does it end? Is the government going to tell us that we can't borrow a book or DVD from our friends? That we should all go out and buy these things and not borrow?

My point is, the internet go so huge, so fast and wasn't regulated from the start and plus we have geeks worldwide that have made file sharing so easy, so now this is the situation we're in and the gov't, big businesses, etc are all freaking out.

I still buy DVD's - the cheap ones. I regularly look for older movies that are under $10. Maybe if they made the new releases cheaper I'd buy those too, but $25-$30 for a DVD? Please.

 

[2GooD Productions]

Exactly Fade, if they didnt rip us of with the prices then we might be more willing to pay for the goods.
We have been ripped off for years, now is just payback time and they dont like it. The way Pirate Bay won was on the freedom of information, information(data)0's and 1's cannot be copyrighted.

 

[Sincock]

Cosign what Fade said.

It's not stealing it is sharing. I was reading up on this the other day and it seems some studies are showing what most of us suspected was true: Sharing files actually increases sales because it's publicising music, films etc. People will still buy stuff. Studies also showed that a lot of what people download they wouldn't buy anyway.

I know for myself I still buy as much music as I can afford and download stuff too. the reality is, living here I can't always buy what ever I want. A lot of music just doesn't make it to the stores. As for buying downloads, when they start selling CD quality files I might consider it but I'm not paying money for a friggin' MP3.

The whole debate is a bit ridiculous, when we were making tapes of stuff for friends it was considered fair usage but now that they have a way of tracking shit on the internets they decided that some money could be made. Music labels aren't losing money because of downloading; maybe they need to have a better look at the real reasons why.