[clue-talk] Steal this film

[Nate Duehr]

I have friends that go both ways on the piracy thing.  I have
friends who have giant "collections" of media, for whatever
reason.  No one I know well is really "only" a Windows person, or
"only" Linux, or "only" Mac OSX.  They all do it all.  (Other
than maybe a few folks from this group who are die-hard
Linux-only folks, and I have no problem with that at all,
considering the group!)

I barely have time to listen to all the music I purchased
legally, and I don't collect anything other than Aviation, Space,
and Steve Martin movies. Even those "collections" were started by
well-meaning folks who bought a few DVD's as gifts, that I didn't
really need.  Example: I scored a copy of Apollo 13 Collector's
Edition, pre-viewed, from a bin at Blockbuster this last weekend
for $6, no (serious) scratches.

Personally I don't do it, figuring it's akin to walking up to
someone and taking their cheese.  Just because groups like RIAA
are demonized and "evil" according to many, doesn't mean stealing
from them is right.  Not doing business with them at all, is the
appropriate "activist" response for those who like to get riled
up about such things.  Who really needs to see all this crap from
Hollyweird, anyway?  See a few movies, then get outdoors or
something. :-)

A family member bought us a Wii as a present a couple of years
ago. It's been used for a few parties, and gets turned on maybe
once a month.  I should sell it.  Alternatively, another friend
is completely into the Wii hacking scene and is constantly
telling me of all the games he has jammed in his Wii.  (He also
built a stand-up game console MAME-emulator years ago... it's
just his 'thing', I guess.)  I just smile and nod and try not to
yawn.  I think I bought Galaga and Super Mario Brothers 3 online
and have maybe three other games including Wii Sports that came
with the thing and Wii Fit that came with the balance pad thingy,
which was also part of the original "gift" of the Wii.  My wife
uses that thing once in a while.

I've always figured "If I can't buy it, or find a Free version of
something that does it, or write my own", it probably wasn't
worth doing anyway.  Not like I'm at any lack of things to do on
a computer, or off.  :-)

On the other hand, I *will* break DRM if I can't get something I
purchased onto a particular DEVICE I want it on.  I paid for the
media, and the hardware so if I want to watch it on "hardware X",
I figure out how.  Handbrake usually covers that need nicely on
the Mac.

And honestly, I'm a "new media" junkie.  Podcasts, Video
Podcasts, etc... far more interesting than listening to the same
old stuff I bought years ago.  MIT's OpenCourseware audio type
stuff, lectures from Ted... there's all sorts of great things to
listen to/watch out there.  If my wife weren't quite the TV
junkie she is, I think I'd just hook up a Mac Mini to the HDTV.
I may still do that.

As regards to "new media" I'm currently ramping up to start
audio/video podcasting some of my aviation "adventures" here in
the Front Range... still working on purchasing the correct A/V
gear to do that... no rush to get started, and like all hobby
stuff I refuse to go into consumer debt to buy the "toys"... so
I'm selling off some other things I'm less interested in, prior
to really hitting that project hard...
--
  Nate Duehr
  nate at natetech.com


On Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:07 -0700, "Louis Miller"
<veganguy1 at gmail.com> wrote:

  I'm watching this film on Hulu, called "Steal this film." It
  is about filesharing through technologies like Bit Torrent,
  and how internet piracy is not evil or malicious, but an
  emerging technology. I've only just begun watching it. I was
  under the impression that Linux users were much less likely to
  pirate media or software than Windows users. I am totally
  legal in my computer use. I haven't heard of any Linux users
  using their skills to burn their own movies, but they might be
  out there. Many of my Windows using acquaintances have told me
  that they copy from filesharing services, and they don't seem
  to give any thought to the possibility that they might be
  doing something wrong.Anyone?
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://cluedenver.org/pipermail/clue-talk/attachments/20091125/789b422a/attachment-0001.html