Author's note: This thread is not meant to extol the virtues of piracy, but merely outline how roles of institutions are sometimes the cause of it.
All this talk about how pirates are thieves allows some interesting points to be lost that damn the industries and government as an agent enticing and even forcing citizens to be content pirates. Two ways this is done:
1: Censorship
Perfect examples are Chinese and Austrailian governments. Piracy runs rampant thru China due to the extreme controls on content that don't jive with the ideals of Communism. The citizens who don't want to be censored are forced to buy things from illicit markets or download it from non-blocked sources. Only place they *aren't* getting it is from a retail store due to bannings. Oz created a huge illicit demand for entertainment such as GTA3 and Ken Park after banning both, making them mainly available online instead of honest purchase. Just because content is deemed obscene or doesn't jell with a gov's ideals it's banned...however the people want the content anyway and seek other methods to procure the content. Given that the only avenues left to them are illicit means, citizens will engage in criminal behavior to procure these items anyway, making the ban effectively an incitement to steal.
2: Content withholding
Media Giants are to blame for this one. The biggest offender? Disney. They make available older titles for a limited time to generate sales in a crucial period and then remove the item from legit circulation for a period of 10 years by putting it back "in the vault". Some very good points against this are made
here.
A personal anecdote:
I went to Suncoast Video, a retail chain, to inquire about buying Eddie Murphy's standups Raw and Delirious. I was told flatly that they were taken off the market deliberately so Eddie's current films would be paid attention to, and probably also in an attempt to clean up Ed's rep for his newer family film roles, much like Bill Cosby in the 70's. They told me they couldn't even order it for me. So in order to enjoy his vids again I had to download them, since I don't rent movies at all
Now I know some will say it's their right to remove the content and it's their property bla bla bla. Thing is ppl don't give a shit...as the linked debate above says parent's don't want to wait until 2012 to show their kid Snow White when she's 14 and won't give a shit about kid's films. They want their kid to enjoy it now whiile the film can be a magical fun experience. This "vault" shit just causes many parents to miss giving their kids movies they enjoyed at that age or to get the flicks off alt.binaries.usenet.groups and never buy them at all. What's the point in paying for something in 2012 when your kid won't want it anymore? No point at all. Good marketing stratagem Disney..I know you lost my $$$.
Your thoughts?