Jun
21
Pirates? Maybe. Thieves? Not so fast.
I caught a bit of NBC’s Last Comic Standing and one particular routine about DVD piracy reminded me of an almost identical rant I had regarding this subject. I can’t quote his version but it went something like this: “Have you seen those anti-piracy commercials at the beginning of your DVDs? You know, they go something like, ‘Would you steal a cell phone? Would you steal car? Then why would you steal a movie?’ And I thought to myself, no I wouldn’t steal a car… but if my buddy called me up and said, ‘Hey, I bought this new car and I can burn you a copy if you want!’ I might have to think twice about that.” My sentiments exactly.
I don’t agree with stealing, in fact, I hate it, loathe it. But, I have to say the movie industries’ flawed logic here is only going to make things worse. We, the consumers, are stupid… but not that stupid. Even most children can see how ridiculous that implication is. They not-so-subtly imply that a person who takes their legal copy, technically speaking, and then shares it with a friend — or lots of faceless digital “friends” — is the equivalent of a car thief. The minds behind this commercial can’t seriously believe that two violations of the law which result in entirely different outcomes and have different impacts are one and the same. Give me a break.
