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The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagree

The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagree


  • Total voters
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Luna Tick

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What if no one pirated anything on the Internet? Everyone only watched movies they paid to see, only used non-freeware software that they've paid for, only downloaded copyrighted music after legitimately paying for it, etc. In other words, everyone adhered strictly to copyright law. Would that help the economy?

Note: This question is only about copyrighted material. Some software is freeware; some books and movies have expired copyrights, etc. Those materials are legal to freely distribute. This thread is not about those.
 
Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

Just a warning, you are about to have a herd of Libertarians swoop in on this thread and tear your OP to pieces.
 
Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

Just a warning, you are about to have a herd of Libertarians swoop in on this thread and tear your OP to pieces.

Oh, really. Well they can vote accordingly.
 
Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

Just a warning, you are about to have a herd of Libertarians swoop in on this thread and tear your OP to pieces.

Isn't that odd?

The government taking a few dollar out of their paychecks to build a road they'll drive on. OMGZ THEFT!

A libertarian being denied the theft of a $15 movie they took no part in producing. OMGZ You're not letting me steal!
 
Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

Oh, really. Well they can vote accordingly.

Personally, I think this whole discussion is moot if copyright law isn't going to be enforced properly or effectively.

You can't tell someone to simply "respect copyright law" and expect everything to be okay. People will always take the path of least resistance - why pay for music, movies, or television if you can download them for free and get away with it?
 
Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

We do not enforce piracy laws to better the economy. The reason for piracy laws are the same as the reasons for burglary laws.
 
Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

I agree. Everything helps and I've paid for every single song or program that I've downloaded.

Bee
 
Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

Isn't that odd?

The government taking a few dollar out of their paychecks to build a road they'll drive on. OMGZ THEFT!

A libertarian being denied the theft of a $15 movie they took no part in producing. OMGZ You're not letting me steal!

Ehh, I can kinda see where they're coming from. I do think in some cases there are legitimate arguments against some forms of intellectual property rights as they exist today, and i don't necessarily think it's because they just want to steal.
 
Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

Ehh, I can kinda see where they're coming from. I do think in some cases there are legitimate arguments against some forms of intellectual property rights as they exist today, and i don't necessarily think it's because they just want to steal.

Which legitimate arguments are there? Which intellectual property?
 
Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

I don't think the economy would be better if more people respected copyright law, but I also don't believe that people have a right to illegally copy things that aren't theirs. I can't really vote in the poll.
 
Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

That has to be some sort of joke.

That is kinda what I was thinking reading it.

Suppose I write a poem, and you read it and memorize it. By memorizing it, you have in effect created a "software" duplicate of the poem to be stored in your brain. But clearly I can claim no rights over that copy so long as you remain a free and autonomous individual. That copy in your head is yours and no one else's.
But now suppose you proceed to transcribe my poem, to make a "hard copy" of the information stored in your brain. The materials you use — pen and ink — are your own property. The information template which you used — that is, the stored memory of the poem — is also your own property. So how can the hard copy you produce from these materials be anything but yours to publish, sell, adapt, or otherwise treat as you please?
An item of intellectual property is a universal. Unless we are to believe in Platonic Forms, universals as such do not exist, except insofar as they are realized in their many particular instances. Accordingly, I do not see how anyone can claim to own, say, the text of Atlas Shrugged unless that amounts to a claim to own every single physical copy of Atlas Shrugged. But the copy of Atlas Shrugged on my bookshelf does not belong to Ayn Rand or to her estate. It belongs to me. I bought it. I paid for it. (Rand presumably got royalties from the sale, and I'm sure it wasn't sold without her permission!)

I read that and all I could think was "put down the ****ing bong, it's making you ****ing stupid".
 
Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

I didn't vote because Nither option is correct. You should respect a person's intellectual property as much as you should respect their physical property. On the other hand, that wouldn't fix the economy.
 
Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

That is kinda what I was thinking reading it.



I read that and all I could think was "put down the ****ing bong, it's making you ****ing stupid".

That's essentially why I'm personally of the opinion that some arguments against IP as it exists today have some sort of merit - other libertarian arguments against IP in general are just stupid, like the one cited above.

Needless to say I don't think it's a black-and-white, hard-and-fast issue to judge.
 
Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

making a copy of music, videos, etc. for personal use is little harm or foul, using any copy, legal or otherwise, to make money is where the issue gets important.
 
Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

By memorizing it, you have in effect created a "software" duplicate of the poem to be stored in your brain. But clearly I can claim no rights over that copy so long as you remain a free and autonomous individual. That copy in your head is yours and no one else's.
But now suppose you proceed to transcribe my poem, to make a "hard copy" of the information stored in your brain. The materials you use — pen and ink — are your own property. The information template which you used — that is, the stored memory of the poem — is also your own property. So how can the hard copy you produce from these materials be anything but yours to publish, sell, adapt, or otherwise treat as you please?

How many times have I heard "Stairway to Heaven?" To think that I should have been getting royalties all along because I heard it.
 
Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

That is kinda what I was thinking reading it.



I read that and all I could think was "put down the ****ing bong, it's making you ****ing stupid".

It seems to me that the author has absolutely no understanding of plagiarism. That's one of the weakest arguments I've ever read.
 
Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

Nope, but feel free to elaborate.

Did you actually read it? It's ****ing retarded. You don't get to claim ownership of a poem simply because you memorized it. Furthermore you don't get to sell the poem or steal the book it came in even if you memorized it. You don't even get to make your own book and put the poem inside of it because you memorized it. In essence the link you posted is the very reason why I can't take ANY argument against IP seriously. Because it makes no ****ing sense nor does it actually take into consideration the debate at hand.
 
Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

making a copy of music, videos, etc. for personal use is little harm or foul, using any copy, legal or otherwise, to make money is where the issue gets important.

Disagree. Regardless of the morality of IP laws, this behavior is, in effect, depriving someone, somewhere, of income that they would otherwise be receiving if you had obeyed the law - as you have used their creation. You have used a good/service and it is only fair that you pay for that usage in some form. It doesn't matter whether or not it's for "personal use," even if you don't decide to copy and redistribute it.
 
Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

It seems to me that the author has absolutely no understanding of plagiarism. That's one of the weakest arguments I've ever read.

Odd given the fact that he writes a lot and uses a plethora of references when applicable. Why would a plagiarist use references in their published works?
 
Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

The Tuesday Podcast: The Patent War : Planet Money : NPR

Here is an example of where the practical implementation of IP law is causing one industry to not live up to its full potential.

Like i said - not black-and-white at all.
 
Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

Just a warning, you are about to have a herd of Libertarians swoop in on this thread and tear your OP to pieces.

This made me laugh :)

Honestly, though, I am for respecting that someone put hard work into something and has a right to get paid for that work. I think the way they go about it and how much they charge is begging to be robbed by people who feel differently.

I think the internet and digital issues make it a complicated challenge to address. Some people are going with theft, but I would rather the true free market answer to lousy policies were used. In this case, the true method would be giving the option of Netflix, Hulu, Google TV and more causing a huge decline in cable subscriptions and movie sales.

EDIT: As to OP, I think it would be marginally good for the economy and if you combine that with what I said above, you get my vote.
 
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Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

Did you actually read it? It's ****ing retarded. You don't get to claim ownership of a poem simply because you memorized it. Furthermore you don't get to sell the poem or steal the book it came in even if you memorized it. You don't even get to make your own book and put the poem inside of it because you memorized it. In essence the link you posted is the very reason why I can't take ANY argument against IP seriously. Because it makes no ****ing sense nor does it actually take into consideration the debate at hand.

You missed the point of where Long states that once you buy a book, poem, or piece of music, you own it. That the author has received their money, and therefore that particular book, poem, or music of is not their anymore. It is yours, and you have the right to trade it or give it away.

In addition, works of arts, music, inventions, and literature are works built upon themselves and are never are original. To claim that you have an original idea and therefore a monopoly on a piece of thought is completely absurd.
 
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