fragments

dergrossefritz:

Sorry about my rage post earlier, here’s a more reasonable post about my feelings on SOPA amd PIPA…

Gabe Newell, the head of Valve, which I believe is one of the greatest video game companies in existence today, had this to say about the problems of pirating:

“The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. It’s by giving those people a service that’s better than what they’re receiving from the pirates… . If a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate’s service is more valuable.”

Why do these large corporations seek shelter from the government when they have no on else to blame but themselves if piracy is a problem to them? These music and movie industries are in trouble because they’ve put themselves there. These people who think they can overcharge for movies and music, then get completely defensive and offended when others offer their services at a better rate and quality than they can provide.

Do they really think that they can stop pirates? I don’t believe even they’re stupid enough to believe so. The internet has millions of ways to share files outside Megaupload. All the government has done is mildly inconvenient pirates and captured seven people, in comparison to the millions of providers and the billions of downloaders that are out there. They did it for show, I believe, wanted to flex their big government muscles and act like they’re in power of the situation. They essentially cut off the head of a Hydra in an attempt to scare away the Hydra later.

I believe the motto of capitalism and especially the United States is: ‘Competition is the life-blood of the economy’, right? Well, Hollywood, you’ve met your largest competitor. It’s up to you now, do you adapt or do you die?

EXACTLY. This is what I said in my letters to my state’s senators (yes, I sent them physical, handwritten letters about SOPA/PIPA). I cited the example of FOX having Glee available on Hulu the next day during season 2, and then FOX’s decision to delay new episodes a whole week for season 3. More people, including myself, are downloading the rips instead of waiting on Hulu, and I did actually watch the entire second season through Hulu.

I go looking for MP3s on Amazon. If I can’t find it, I check eMusic. If they don’t have it, I hunt down a pirated version, because I won’t wait for the record label to get their act together.

Adobe charges an arm, a leg, and your soul for their software.

The entertainment industry, software companies, et cetera bring this crap upon themselves. They are so busy fighting the internet instead of embracing it and redesigning their business model, and thus they are hurting their own profits.

(via cracktastic)