I'll finish off with just one question since most of you can't grasp the concept that I am trying to get through to you.
If you make something that cost you a lot of money to make and that you expect to get paid for and somebody comes along and uses it without paying for it, would you see that as theft?
no, that is what is called "unlicensed use" or a "bootleg copy" since it does not come from an "official" distribution channel as you call it. The "owner" would have a civil claim against the bootlegger (if he was distributing it for financial gain). He would have a VERY hard time proving a claim against a home user who could just log on to the TV station and watch that content for free anyway. He would also have a very hard time priving a criminal offence unless the bootlegger was selling his IP for profit. There is no profit in file-sharing so the courts have pretty much stayed away from the issue and left it in the "fair-use" (personal use) category. It is not theft because nothing has been removed from the possession of the owner. It is simply classed as "unlicensed use". Your use of the term "theft" would draw peals of laughter from a court of law. And your classing those who download episodes with other law-breakers is a favourite tactic of the MPAA/RIAA Mafia alliance.
The fact is, that the large majority of downloaders are consumers as well. They are buying bandwidth, they are buying DVDs and TVs, etc. They are not just free agents. They have simply chosen to spend their money in a different direction. By spending our money on bandwidth rather than DSTV, we are hoping that the content producers will notice where the money is being spent and move to adopt those new distribution channels. The problem is they are too slow and lethargic to do that.... so the consumers are exploiting the gap in the market.
One example. The producers of the hit TV show "Lost" have chosen to limit distribution to the USA only. Other countries in the world have to buy the show entire seasons at a time, typically up to a year behind schedule. This has caused Lost to become one of the most downloaded shows on the Internet. Now if they were to make the show available on their website either for a small charge or with attached commercials (my best suggestion), they could be making millions. But they choose to completely ignore this channel and thereby are losing millions of dollars in revenue. They are simply too bent on honoring their old distribution model. As a result I choose to download Lost from the internet rather and then wait until the DVDs are released to watch the special features. I have already bought all four released seasons so far (and I saved hundreds of Rands by waiting six months after the release date!)
I am in the process of downloading season five. And you can bet when that is finished I will be adding that set to my collection of Buffy, Angel, Stargate, Prison Break, Hereos and other sets that I own. heck I saved over R10,000 in the last two years by giving up DSTV, that made room for me to buy a ton more DVDs and bandwidth.
I have no problem with doing it this way and obviously the law also has no problem with it.
so you can b1tch and whine all you want about poor DSTV losing its revenue, but I am still not going to pay their extortion prices. I have unlimited local bandwidth through M-Web for less than R300 a month. The other R200 a month gets me some nice DVDs.
I think a lot more people should consider adopting this model. Then DSTV will be forced to bring their pricing to a more sane level.... or might consider switching their distribution method to the internet
