Comments on: Alternate Ways of Rewarding Content Creators http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/2009/11/27/rewarding-content-creators/ A premiere personal finance blog, established 2003. Within, Flexo discusses his own experiences with money, and he and other authors comment on a wide range of personal finance topics. Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:15:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: John DeFlumeri Jrhttp://www.consumerismcommentary.com/2009/11/27/rewarding-content-creators/#comment-200377 John DeFlumeri Jr Sat, 28 Nov 2009 10:57:51 +0000 http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/?p=7596#comment-200377 With technology available today, there is no guarantee that you could prevent illegal copying and unauthorized distribution. Forget about the morals because they don't exist any more.John DeFlumeri Jr With technology available today, there is no guarantee that you could prevent illegal copying and unauthorized distribution. Forget about the morals because they don’t exist any more.

John DeFlumeri Jr

]]> By: Tyler Karasewskihttp://www.consumerismcommentary.com/2009/11/27/rewarding-content-creators/#comment-200371 Tyler Karasewski Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:48:10 +0000 http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/?p=7596#comment-200371 'Stealing' is still the wrong word. You're not taking anything from anyone. No one was deprived of his movie because you made a copy of it. If you 'stole' a car in the same manner you 'steal' a movie, no one would consider it wrong in the slightest -- they'd call you mechanically talented and praise the quality of the replica car you built.Which isn't to say that making illegal copies of movies is OK, just that it's distinct from plain old stealing. How do you feel about downloading TV shows? They air them on TV for free, so you're paying just as much as you would if you watched them over the air. Certainly, they expected you to watch them with commercials, and you're watching them without the commercials, but then you don't feel like you're stealing if you take a bathroom break while the commercials air and you're watching it on TV, do you?What if you buy a blu-ray disc, and then lend it to all your friends? Maybe 20 people watched that movie, but only one paid for it. Is that stealing on the part of your friends? Is it wrong?It's all a very blurry and not black-and-white at all, which makes it sort of morally ambiguous, in my opinion.Personally, I have absolutely no problem paying a dollar or two to watch a TV show in high-definition, commercial-free, or paying $3-5 for a downloadable one-time-use movie file. I'll gladly use iTunes movie rentals and TV show subscriptions for this sort of thing. But for movies or TV shows they don't carry? I will download them from other sources. I'm not going to watch a movie more than once, and so I'm not willing to pay $25 for a disc I don't need. And lacking an actual television, TV shows are only available to me online. If you're not willing to make the show available to me in a format I can purchase, then you're not interested in my business anyway, so you shouldn't mind if I download your show from bittorrent, since you gave me no option whatsoever to purchase it.This is even more ambiguous when you take into account the fact that I'm usually downloading BBC shows. These shows are funded by taxpayer money and expected to be free. However, these are British taxpayers, and I'm American. When it comes right down to it, the British taxpayer benefits in no way whatsoever from me not watching his TV show, so why shouldn't I? If they wont make the show available for me to pay for, like by putting it on iTunes, I'm not going to simply not watch it for really esoteric, ambiguous legal reasons. I'm also not going to wait three years after it airs in Britain for it to be officially available in the US.If you want my cooperation in using your product in the way you see fit, you have to make that product available in a reasonable fashion for me to use. I'm not costing you anything by watching a movie or a TV show that I couldn't possibly have purchased anyway, since you did not make it available. ‘Stealing’ is still the wrong word. You’re not taking anything from anyone. No one was deprived of his movie because you made a copy of it. If you ’stole’ a car in the same manner you ’steal’ a movie, no one would consider it wrong in the slightest — they’d call you mechanically talented and praise the quality of the replica car you built.

Which isn’t to say that making illegal copies of movies is OK, just that it’s distinct from plain old stealing. How do you feel about downloading TV shows? They air them on TV for free, so you’re paying just as much as you would if you watched them over the air. Certainly, they expected you to watch them with commercials, and you’re watching them without the commercials, but then you don’t feel like you’re stealing if you take a bathroom break while the commercials air and you’re watching it on TV, do you?

What if you buy a blu-ray disc, and then lend it to all your friends? Maybe 20 people watched that movie, but only one paid for it. Is that stealing on the part of your friends? Is it wrong?

It’s all a very blurry and not black-and-white at all, which makes it sort of morally ambiguous, in my opinion.

Personally, I have absolutely no problem paying a dollar or two to watch a TV show in high-definition, commercial-free, or paying $3-5 for a downloadable one-time-use movie file. I’ll gladly use iTunes movie rentals and TV show subscriptions for this sort of thing. But for movies or TV shows they don’t carry? I will download them from other sources. I’m not going to watch a movie more than once, and so I’m not willing to pay $25 for a disc I don’t need. And lacking an actual television, TV shows are only available to me online. If you’re not willing to make the show available to me in a format I can purchase, then you’re not interested in my business anyway, so you shouldn’t mind if I download your show from bittorrent, since you gave me no option whatsoever to purchase it.

This is even more ambiguous when you take into account the fact that I’m usually downloading BBC shows. These shows are funded by taxpayer money and expected to be free. However, these are British taxpayers, and I’m American. When it comes right down to it, the British taxpayer benefits in no way whatsoever from me not watching his TV show, so why shouldn’t I? If they wont make the show available for me to pay for, like by putting it on iTunes, I’m not going to simply not watch it for really esoteric, ambiguous legal reasons. I’m also not going to wait three years after it airs in Britain for it to be officially available in the US.

If you want my cooperation in using your product in the way you see fit, you have to make that product available in a reasonable fashion for me to use. I’m not costing you anything by watching a movie or a TV show that I couldn’t possibly have purchased anyway, since you did not make it available.

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