Stealing!

I don't do it, generally. I definitely have though. Especially when I was young--middle school age. And I have never stolen from an individual, only a company. I went on a "something for nothing" kick for a while. It was dumb, but that isn't what we are talking about.

We are talking about music and movies here, and digital copies at that. As of right now I don't steal them, I have at one point done this, but I do not now. I don't burn music that is not mine and I don't burn, or copy, movies that are not mine. I really want to though. I have a couple differing opinions on the matter.

I can't stand when you watch a movie and they have the warning about stealing digital content at the beginning. It says, "you wouldn't steal a car would you? You wouldn't steal a purse would you? Then why would you steal a movie! It is the same thing!" I don't agree that it is the same thing at all. In all of the previous examples that they give if you took that possession from someone the other person would not have the possession any longer. When you burn a CD that isn't yours you do not take that possession from someone else so only you can have it. You actually make the work of the artist or director more viewable to more people. You duplicate a copy of it. As a smart person I know once said "Dang straight, if I could burn a copy of a car I would definitely do it and not feel bad." I agree with her--I would burn a car if I could also. You are not removing the right of anyone else to own the copy of music if you burn it, you are actually letting more people have the opportunity of owning it.

Now you may say that you are depriving the person who spent their time making the work of money. This is true overall, you are depriving them of money. I have heard the argument that it is okay to do it if you would not have bought the album anyway. I don't completely disagree with that, but I do think there is a principle that implies that if you weren't willing to fork over money to get it you shouldn't have the right of owning it. I probably agree with that also.

I think the best argument against burning CDs and DVDs is that it is stealing. No matter how we justify it the fact remains that you are obtaining something that has property rights associated with it and taking it without purchasing those rights of ownership. This is stealing, plain and simple. Again, I have done it, so I hope you don't think I am trying to be holier than thou, but it is stealing.

Now this is where the situation gets muddy for me. I think there is something to be said about forcing industries to respond to both the needs of the customers and consumers and also, and more importantly, technology. The recording and music industries have a bad business model right now. The current business model worked great for people back in the day when a person didn't have the financial resources to spend tons of money on making the actual copies of CDs or even records. But now a person could submit their recording to iTunes and receive the vast majority of the money and not really need a middle man like a record company. They need to rethink the way they distribute music and movies. Most importantly, I think if more and more people steal music and DVDs they will have to change the way they do business to meet the needs of the consumers. And remember, we are not actually depriving people of the CD when we duplicate it, so the heart of one of the Ten Commandments, hurting another person, isn't happening.

Here is an example of a different business model:

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9811013-7.html

And here is an example of how that same model started to change things:



In the article it talks about how Radiohead bypassed the record label and released their own album. They also let people CHOOSE how much they wanted to pay for it, and getting it free was an option. Some are guessing that Radiohead didn't actually lose that much money. Without needing to pay a record label they probably did close to as well, also they permitted more people to obtain their music, probably increasing the amount of people who will see them on tour. Suddenly concerts could be the big money maker, not the albums that are released. I think people stealing their music, and the amount of money they lost to the label, encouraged them to pursue this course. It seems to be working rather well for all parties (well, except for the record label, but I hope they go out of business. And that isn't mean, how many of you are bemoaning the fact that the typewriter business bellied up as you type on your computer?). Radiohead has now, as the second article attests to, stopped releasing the album for free. But the nice thing about the experiment is that it showed that if people keep stealing albums the music industry will be forced to refigure the way they do things. That makes me want to steal.

So I dont' know how I feel about stealing. Well, I know how I feel about stealing, but I don't know about copying digital content. I want to not steal but I also want companies to change their business model and meet our needs. And I don't think they will change the model unless they start making far less money. Also, it is non-violent resistance to record label tyranny (okay, I agree, that was pushing it).

I would love comments. You can even leave the comment, to which I would agree, that stealing is stealing, plain and simple. But hopefully you will write a more detailed argument one way or another. Remember, my biggest reason to steal is that it really doesn't hurt anyone, at least not to a degree to which it matters.