My local library has many good books and CDs, which I can borrow for free. All I have to do is go down there, find that what I want is out, get on the waiting list, come back a few weeks later to pick it up, and remember to return it on time. This is not convenient at all, but it’s free and totally 100% legal.
Similarly I could borrow a DVD from a friend. Yes I’d probably be imposing somewhat on my friend, and if I forgot to return the DVD, perhaps this person would cease to be my friend. But, the point is, I could do this legally and for free.
Ok so what if, during one of the above scenarios, I decide just to make a quick copy for myself. Look, I’m never going to buy the thing. I buy things I want to own. If I just want the option to read a book twice, maybe once a year, it doesn’t make sense to own it 24/7/365. Besides, at any given time I could “re-borrow” the thing anyway — it would just be more convenient to have a copy readily available.
Of course, this is illegal.
The MPAA and the RIAA and many publishers don’t get this. They want you to see black and white here. Unfortunately, the reality is a whole lot of grey. The convenient method is illegal. If you want convenient access to a work, you must pay for it. Otherwise, if you’re satisfied with the inconvenient methods, they are — at least currently — resigned to the fact that those methods are legal.
(Don’t be fooled, though. If they could make libraries and friends illegal, they would.)
In a nutshell, this is why the MPAA and the RIAA are doomed to lose the copyfight. Convenience is not theft. Convenient things are not wrong. If you get between people and convenience, you’re going to lose every time.
Latest Comments
RSS