[ExI] 'Copyright' (Was: Re: to my fellow renaissance life forms)

[Ben Zaiboc]

SR Ballard wrote:
> I like their work, I give them money. It’s not complicated.
>
> I will often buy a physical or electronic copy of a book I have 
> pirated, if I liked it. I buy merch from bands, pay for concert 
> tickets, buy tracks. I donate money to streamers...
>
> Piracy is no different than borrowing your friend’s book/CD/movie. If 
> you enjoyed it, you’ll get a legit copy for yourself.
>
> SR Ballard

Thank you, a lone sane voice among the brainwashed (so it seems to me, 
anyway).

Ask Charlie Stross how he makes a living when he routinely puts his 
fiction on the web for anyone to read without any strings whatsoever.

My experience and opinion, is the same as SRB's. I have paid-for hard 
copies of several works of fiction (by Stross and others) that I first 
read for free. I decided that I wanted to give these guys money to 
encourage them to keep writing the stuff that I like. I have also read 
for free, stuff that I didn't like so much, and declined to give those 
authors money, not wanting to encourage them further.

What could be fairer than that?

The people who profit the most from the current system are the 
middle-men. The publishers and big media corporations. You know, the 
ones who lobby for these crazy copyright laws that benefit no-one but 
them. The sooner these parasites wither away, the better.

Regarding the notion that amateur musicians create nothing but 
poor-quality pap, consider what the word 'amateur' actually means. And 
think about who is more likely to produce good music: Someone who does 
it for love, or someone who does it to pay the rent? How many times have 
you heard second and third albums from promising bands, and thought "Not 
nearly as good as the first one"? Why do you think that is?

This is one area where I'm quite dismayed to see extropians so deeply 
entrenched in the same mental rut as the vast majority of people. We're 
supposed to be good at thinking outside the box and looking to a better 
future, not enthusiastically toeing the corporate party line that's 
threatening to drag us down into the kind of dystopia that Cory Doctorow 
etc. keep trying to alert us all to.

Ben