Boy, what a week that that was. Soccer, Aussie PM's, movie piracy. They all featured on the front pages (or should that be homepages) of newspapers across the country.
The issue of stealing other peoples stuff always interests me, so I'll make that today's topic. I will say that I haven't seen Boy yet, I want to see it though. I won't be downloading it like the hundreds of others that are right now.
I saw the director of Boy, Taika Waititi interviewed on Campbell Live a couple of nights ago. He was responding to questions about piracy. We said he was disappointed, but also complimented by the fact that people wanted to steal something he made. In contrast the FACT guy (who represents the Motion Picture Ass., suggests that people are suffering because of piracy. 70 million dollars.... blah, blah, blah.
Firstly it's not piracy. There's no Johnny Depp or canons or parrots called Poly. There's just a few geeks with laptops siphoning zeros and ones of the internet. OK, some some Islanders flog a few DVDs off at 5am in a freezing car park, somewhere in Otara. Most of these people would have never bothered normally, it's more of a snatch and run. A crime yes, ruining other peoples lives, NO.
Secondly, this is more of an indictment on our society that says that intellectual property is owned by rich bastards (like Sony Music et al.) who can afford to have it nicked. The current models are not working. Neither party, copiers or rich bastards should not be taking the moral high ground. Digital content is here to stay, let's work at getting a fairer system for sellers and buyers. The thieves will always be around.
Have a great weekend.
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