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Originally Posted by Hugh
Got to love it when people use an exceptional circumstance as a general guideline.....
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Indeed.
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Also, what people seem to forget is that most programmes are funded by sales to broadcasters, and the broadcasters are funded (usually) by the advertising revenue they raise when people watch these programmes on TV, so if the programmes are downloaded, and then not watched on television, the ratings go down, the advertisers pull out, the series gets canned - so, in essence, keep up the downloading and have less TV series (except *shudder* Reality TV series, which are cheap to produce).
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Just to go OT slightly, this is currently the 'problem' with the BBC's iPlayer.
You can, quite legally, not pay for your TV Licence but still watch anything (that
isn't 'live') via iPlayer. Now, if this remains the case and too many people do that, where's the funding going to come from for new programmes.
Sorry. Just a tangential thought
However, in the end, it is an, imho, ethical decision - for a long time I wrote business software (IBM Mid-range, payroll, accounts, logistics, etc); if someone had just decided to copy that and use it without our permission, I, and hundreds of others, would have been out of a job, and I have carried that viewpoint over to the present day - if I want something, I pay for it (unless the producer/copyright owner states that I can have it for free).
At the end of the day, we are talking about media (TV, music, films, etc) - not basic sustenance issues like shelter, food, water, warmth.
The over explosion of freetarding has given corporations and governments the stick with which to beat the internet with - thanks a lot, guys, for this application of the law of unintended consequences. As Robert A Heinlein stated, "
TANSTAAFL" - everntually, someone has to pay.
YMMV.
---------- Post added at 13:24 ---------- Previous post was at 13:23 ----------
And of course, the people doing the illegal downloading have no responsibility whatsoever.......
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