by ladysherlockian » March 8th, 2010, 10:43 am
Maybe I sounded too judgemental, but that is because I am not convinced in my heart that "piracy" is so bad. Nevertheless I try to obey the prohibition of it intellectually and in my deeds - I don't do it even though I am not fully convinced it is evil.
It seems to me that what the sister did was quite risky. The Jews survived I think mainly because of the Nazi officer's stupidity; had he been more inquisitive, he might have searched deeper and found the Jews. Anyway, the truthful sister did not tell the whole truth, did not give the complete directions how to find the Jews. What she said was only the part of truth. But I think we have to remember about the hierarchy of values: telling truth is of course something very good, but saving human lives is much better, more important, and if lying is the surest way of saving lives in a given situation, then you should lie. Being always truthful is not an absolute value.
About the decision of let's say the Corporation which decided to prolong the copyright of CS Lewis's books - well, it is completely right from the business point of view. If they had released the books into the public domain, they would have to make them available for free. I don't know how much the books cost in Lewis's home country or other English-speaking ones, but in Poland they are rather costly - especially the English language editions. And the fans buy the books, even though they are expensive, so the Corporation can earn a lot of money. Do you kill the goose that lays the golden egg? No, unless you are too idealistically-minded.
I would like to know something more about this decision. So it means that the books of Lewis would soon go into public domain had the Corporation not renewed the copyright? They prolonged the copyright for another 70 years? How many times can one prolong a copyright? Is it possible for them to prolong it after these seventy years for another seventy years, and so on forever? Maybe you would give me a link to some articles when I can learn more about it.
There are certain worrying things about the new copyright laws, which restrain the freedom of the recipients. The DRM systems limit the things you can do with the things you have legally bought: they control how you use the ebook e.g. what pages you can print, how many times can you copy it. Soon it will be illegal to lend a book to a friend. Is borrowing a book to your friend stealing? Yes, of course it is, because the author etc. loses money, the amount the friend had to pay if he had to buy the book to read it. The same with libraries - the pirates' dens, when thousands of people can read books without paying. Not at the same time, but still. Do you buy books which you read from borrowed library copies? I sometimes bought the ones I especially enjoyed, but this is a small minority of all library books I have ever read. What about you? Do you buy books even though you can have them from library for free? Look how many authors lost the revenue because you borrowed their books from the library and read them for free instead of paying.
I thought the entire thing with copyright is about money. After all, show business is business - and business has to make money. The so-called artists do not want to share their thoughts and feelings with us(though it is what real artists want to do), they just want to earn more money, and "sharing" it with us is only a side effect of the money drive. But now I am increasingly worried that something more than money is the root of it. It is power and control. Control over what we are reading, listening to, watching, when, how often, and finally who is reading etc. what. Internet may be Big Brother's dream come true. It is already happening. What about DRM-protected songs which just won't play after you have reinstalled Windows - the songs you have bought.
If the Church says it is theft, I will be obedient, though I am not convinced. However, how far can the copyright go? If someone invents a law saying that it is illegal to lend a book to a friend, will lending a book to your friend be a sin?