> > > Copy This
> > > by Jessica Zafra
> > >
> > >
> > > Does anyone else find it funny that people who make
> > > much more money than we do are appealing to us not
> > > to deprive them of their income? You have the nerve
> > > to charge me P450 for a CD that is being sold on the
> > > street for P60 and you expect my sympathy?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > The campaign against pirated software, CD's, VCD's,
> > > audio and cassettes, would have us believe that
> > > piracy is our problem. Really? How is shelling out
> > > P100 for a disc that contains P50,000 worth of
> > > software a problem for me? It would seem that the
> > > pirates are doing me, and my shrinking wallet a big
> > > favor. Why should it bother me that a movie which
> > > has not yet opened in Metro Manila theatres is being
> > > peddled on VCD on Ayala Avenue for P90? I have no
> > > fights with the pirates. They are selling me
> > > information I might otherwise not have access to
> > > because of prohibitive costs. Yes they are thieves
> > > and thieves should be punished, but they are not
> > > stealing from me. Oh sure, you can lecture me about
> > > in the long run I will pay for buying bootleg but by
> > > then I will have used the information for my
> > > benefit.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > So let me make a correction. Piracy is the problem
> > > of the manufacturers, the software houses, record
> > > companies, and motion picture companies, whom I
> > > shall refer to from hereon as the corporations. By
> > > telling us not to buy pirated materials "for the
> > > good of everyone", corporations make it appear that
> > > corporate interests and the public interest are the
> > > same thing. This is unlaughably untrue. Corporations
> > > makes noise about working in the public interest but
> > > these noises are called public relations, PR. But
> > > their duty is to their owners. The anti-piracy ads,
> > > which appeals to my virtue, pass the responsibility
> > > of combating piracy to me. HELLO. They invoke the
> > > law and call on my conscience to protect their
> > > profit margin, but when I shell out P450 for a CD
> > > that turns out to be crap, I can't invoke the law,
> > > and corporations have no conscience. We may all be
> > > equal under the law, but they have the best lawyers.
> > > I guess their complaints are valid because they
> > > stand to lose more money, while I'm
> > > just a sucker who bought the promotional hype.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > The anti-piracy campaign says that when we buy
> > > unauthorized copies a.k.a. bootleg we are stealing
> > > from the creators of the music, movies or computer
> > > programs. This would be the case if the proceeds of
> > > the sales went to artist themselves. We know that
> > > the artists get a small royalty; most of the money
> > > goes to the corporations. They profit from the work
> > > of the artists dry. Their excuses is for a small
> > > royalty, they can suck the artists dry. Their excuse
> > > is that they spent vast sums of money on the
> > > marketing of the artists' work.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > In short, the season "originals" cost so much is
> > > because the huge marketing expenses are passed on to
> > > us. Why should we finance the ridiculous costs of
> > > hype? When you buy bootleg, you deny the artist a
> > > couple of bucks but you stick it to the corporation,
> > > which is so rich it won't even say ouch. I find it
> > > hard to summon up any sympathy for a multi-million
> > > dollar entity that does business in 100 countries.
> > > Awww, the poor corporations, their executives won't
> > > be buying personal Lear jets this quarter. Buying
> > > bootleg has a Robin Hood appeal; Rob the rich to
> > > give the poor, meaning you. It's the opposite of
> > > jueteng, in which robs the poor in order to give to
> > > the rich.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > The corporations are laying a massive guilt trip on
> > > consumers when they should be working to make their
> > > products less easy to steal. With the technology we
> > > have, it is extremely to make high-quality copies of
> > > anything. In the past we worried that the bootleg
> > > goods could damage our electronic equipment; today's
> > > fake CD's are almost exactly like the originals.
> > > While the corporations are piracy-proofing their
> > > wares, maybe they should cut us a break and drop
> > > their prices. The pirates have shown that it is
> > > possible to make CD's cheaper. Take the hint, and
> > > spare us the sob stories about high marketing costs
> > > and your dwindling profits.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > I don't buy pirated software not just because
> > > pirates don't usually do Mac programs but because I
> > > love my Mac. But I cannot tell PC users not to buy
> > > bootleg software when it costs one-fiftieth the
> > > price of the original. Caveat emptor, naturally, and
> > > the fake software may cause their PCs to crash but
> > > PCs do that anyway. Hey doesn't the idea of killing
> > > Bill Gates of .0000000000000000(add more zeroes)1 of
> > > his income appeal to you? Look at him, the guy's
> > > rolling in money, but he won't spend for a proper
> > > haircut. Besides, If you really want to quibble over
> > > it, didn't Bill Gates and Steve Jobs borrow
> > > information from the Xerox Palo Alto Research
> > > Center?
> > > Cut the crap, and stop appealing in my good nature.
> > > It is not my job to protect your interests. The
> > > pirates are sleazy, but they have inadvertently
> > > raised the possibility of a future in which the
> > > artists reaches her audience directly, without a
> > > corporate middleman. Think of a future in which you
> > > profit from your ideas. Not bloody likely right but
> > > it's a good thought.

OO NGA ANO!!!

I agree as far as music and movie CD's are concerned. However, pc or mac softwares nowadays are pre-installed in new computers so piracy there is slowly dwindling (they make you pay for the pc and software all together--i.e. the software's price is built in to the total amount you'll pay for a new pc!).

The audio and video rental shop near my place allows me to rent music cd's and I in turn rip them to MP3s which I load onto my mp3 player. Viola! at an eight of the price of the original CD, I get the same music. I don't get the labels of course but I couldn't care less.

As for DVDs, my PC and DVD player couldn't rip the original DVDs (heck, i can't even record them to VHS because my dual VHS-DVD player recorder has a built in copy protection! :angry: so I'm stuck to renting them only.

I normally agree with most of Ms. Zafra's commentaries but this one really went off base. I couldn't disagree more with her opinions on piracy, copyright laws and the protection of intellectual property rights. How can anyone justify purchasing pirated software and sleep well knowing that they're using "stolen goods"? Using the same reasoning, why then would any artist/programmer/company want to go through all the trouble of creating, designing and producing something new just to give away to the masses for free? If that's the case then I guess we all can just throw our ethics and morality out the window. 'nuff said.

I do not normally agree with everything Twisted Jessica writes about but...

We have to accept we are all victims of technology. This is the future and they all have to admit that the game is changing. Music and movies will still be produced despite any sort of piracy. The huge profits are more in question. I have followed a career of a relative in the local music scene. They have been quite popular and successful for the past 10 years. What can he show for it? The amount he received all this time is not even enough to buy a car. How much did this corporation make? A simple A & R in that company drives around in a Volvo S60!!! Now you tell me?
Let's not talk about the moral issue because you cannot even begin to think about the "HIGH Crimes" committed by these big corporations. Ouch it's hurting there pockets now but we've all been hurting for the longest time!

Sure we dream of being a Bill Gates by inventing something, or building some software program that everyone can use and copy protect it from pirates, hey I'm an entrepreneur too but let's face it these corporations are victims of their own technology as well as we are.

I can sleep well at night. Peace.



P.S.
You do know I'm using an original XP OS.

Which is also one reason why I patronize indie music and films. These artists do make quality music and movies but do not have the distribution power to mass market their wares. The money I pay for their talent goes directly to them and not to some 'greedy' corporation.

I have to be careful what I say here:D

Some software I gladly pay for because sometime ago I got a bootleg copy and discovered it was well worth paying for. Years ago Wordstar became the most popular word processing program in the world because shops sold copies then the users bought the original. I bet almost every computer user has shareware on his system that he has not paid for and never will because it is simply not worth the price. Its a case of if its free or cheap I will use it but if it costs more than its worth to me then no thank you. This is why shareware works.

I don't use DVDs at all because of the ridiculous zoning system. They are extremely expensive and I run the risk of many of them becoming useless when my system locks into one zone. Also because some of the copy protection systems on these disks can cause serious damage to a computer when you are not even trying to copy it!

The Mac does come complete with so much high quality software that an average user doesn't need much more but I just yesterday spent 7,000 pesos on the latest version of OSX. After using it for just a few minutes sitting there with my mouth hanging open like an idiot as all the features became apparent I could see it was well worth the money and more.

I believe the numbers quoted by the software and music industry saying how many billions of dollars they lose to piracy are pure crap. Yes some people would buy the originals if the pirate copies were not available but I believe the number of originals sold would be tiny compared to the number of pirate copies sold. Most of those who will buy 5 or 6 six disks at 100 each would not pay 450 for one.

When I buy VCDs I usually wait until they are no longer the latest and greatest titles so the price is more reasonable. 450 pesos for a disk that may become useless? No thanks.

P.S.
Bill gates never developed the original PC OS. He bought it very cheap from a neighbor and sold it to IBM and everyone else at unbelievable profits. Apple computer got the idea of the mouse from Zerox. Bill gates borrowed one of the Mac prototypes from Apple saying he wanted to develop his version of BASIC for it. What he actually did was copy the look and feel of the MAC OS but Windows only looks similar. Under the surface its a very different animal. For many years Windows was still based on the antiquated 1970s DOS underneath.

...Come to think of it if individual get used to using a pirated software such as Microsoft office, windows and etc....who will benefit from it? It's still Microsoft because company will likely buy an application which is commonly used by the individual.... in the long run didn't actually loose a huge amount of money because corporations will like go for a licensed copy and at the same time pay for any upgrades.... Just my plain observation

Even with the huge amount of piracy going on around the world, Bill Gates is still the richest man in the world. Does piracy hurt ol' Bill? Sure it does, in an abstract sort of way, what's a few million dollars of lost income compared to his 6 big ones , I bet even Bill Gates doesn't know exactly how rich he is. The music and movie industry maybe making less money, but I don't them taking losses either. John Carmack has 2 Ferraris, and his only claim to fame is making the Doom and Quake games. I say screw the big corporations, us third worlders have enough things to worry about.

hey man, you just "pirated" jessica zafra's column...