DRUGS A-Z

Pirate” industry”* or the file sharing is a theme very close to my heart and a topic, which should consern absolutely every one, who thinks of the freedom as something more than just an abstract idea.
Not just something that our forefathers have fought for and won, but what is an ongoing struggle. I grew up in a dictatorship and I am somewhat familiar with the tricks of the trade.
 
I got my 28, 8 Kb/sec. dial up modem in the beginning of the 90-es. The very first search on the Alta-Vista that I made were the 3 letters: xxx. It was the hunt itself, that was the point, since the pornography  was not what I was after. I wanted to become a club member. Something that was worth 25$/month, according to them.  Almost immediately I`ve figured out that there were ways to crack a password and get an account for free. That was the whole point- Anarchy on line. Wild Wild West, where nothing and everything was legal. And as I believed- rules are there to be broken.
I`ve  moved over to the games and music the next day, however I`ve learned a valuble lesson about the very nature of the internet through the tripple x. Pornography is not exactly the same thing as the rest of the entertainment industry, but it is a fantastic example of how something that can be given away for free can still be profitable. The new and free XXX video pages still make money by selling the very videos that they are giving away for free: instead of the 15 minutes clip one gets a high definition full DVD, at the same time as they are offering the sex oriented dating services and some other advertisements. Many will probably get “satisfied” with a couple of the free clips, but I am sure there are hundreds of thousands of the enthusiasts, who will gladly pay a pretty penny for a girl or a guy of their dreams executing their fantasies. At the same time, people, who cannot afford to buy DVDs of any sorts, are not lost as the potential customers. Still they become virtual flyers- spreading the word of this awesome page or a DVD.
I am mentioning this as a functioning model, applicable to the entire entertainment industry. 99% of the people, who download pirated videos and music are those, who would not spent 20$ for a movie or a music CD anyway. However the file sharing allows them to participate and enjoy the modern culture and knowledge, at the same level as the people with a decent income, thus making them movie/music lovers and the potential customers. Alternatively they would never even hear the artists or see the movies, that they eventually may pay for, once they can afford it or at least spread the word of the gems of the industry. As did I. The majority of the “pirates” do have a few store bought originals of their favorites or pay for a concert/movie ticket or a hardcover book.
Who are the pirates? There are a few of myths and misconceptions. *”Pirate Industry”- misconception by the very definition. Pirate industry can be applied as a term to the 100.000`s of the almost exact copies of the DVDs and CD`s, sold at a fraction of the originals` cost. Thailand is famous for its pirate markets for example. However it has nothing to do with the teenagers sharing the files. Yet the IPRED law is not out to get those, who profit, selling the CDs- since the kids, who download the materials are not out to make money. Simply to recommend and share their favorite piece of culture as it has been done in one form or another since the printing press was invented. File-sharers do not make money by duplicating the downloaded films and games and selling them further. It could have been true at the very beginning, when the internet was available to a very few ones as well as the CD-burning hard and software. Yet even then the pirate`s customers were other kids, who would have to save a whole 1 or 2 months allowance to buy a single game So buying a “ripped” game (without animation clips or music) for 1/20th of the store price gave them a chance to test the games and being able to afford to participate in the gaming. Keeping up the interest in playing. By upgrading the hardware (video cards, memory chips, processors) they kept the industry ever growing, as well as encouraging the hardware corporations to produce ever faster computers. In other words- in my own experience: thanks to the gaming piracy we are now having the insanely fast computers and the whole industry is flourishing as it does.
Piracy nowadays is mostly not about saving money either: they would simply never see the movie or play a game or listen to an album or a book if not for the peer 2 peer file sharing. Overwhelming majority of the so called pirates are the teenagers, living on their parent’s allowances. The gaming industry is growing year after year, despite all of the games being available for the download. The reason is partially that the store bought High Def. DVDs have loads more to offer in a beautiful box: the instructions, the possibility to play online, the available game support, expansions, fixes for the bugs etc… And an awesome package. Or as the case with a friend of mine- a whole book collection, following the “World of Warcraft” games. However the “ripped” copies of the games, available to download, allow the kids to test out the product. Majority of the VERY expensive games are often mediocre and disappointing. On a parent`s allowance scale it is something like you spending 2 salaries on an none refundable product, that does not function. File sharing allows spending their precious pocket money only on the sure thing, while keeping the gaming industry on their toes, striving to be the best. Good games make more money than the biggest of the Hollywood films, while the crappy ones can`t as easily get away with a flashy video clip or a few minutes of trial version. This, I suspect is actually true even for the music and the movie industry.
The piracy may have hit the sales of the moguls of the industry, who rely on pushing a mediocre quality product with the flashy ads and the carefully chosen clips. However the piracy has made the business a lot more fare in a socialist kind of way: now any artist has the same chance of being heard/seen and evaluated by the consumer. The small “indie” producers have a chance at becoming immensely popular, due to the fact that their product is being heard/seen for free first. The best advertisement is still the mouth to mouth or peer to peer as is the case with file sharing. I`ve paid 25$ to see my favorite film twice in the movie theater and I will pay another 15$ to have the original DVD with the extra material and the superior quality. The film, and the brilliant director of whom I would never even have heard if not for the file sharing. Some of the greatest talent is not in the Hollywood or the monster record labels, but in the small studios, lacking the ”in your face” marketing. Piracy became the vehicle of democratizing the culture and making it of a higher quality. The absolute majority of the pirates would pay for the CDs and the DVDs if they could afford them. With one condition: they don`t want to pay for the shit, being fooled by the glam and glitter of the expensive promotions and being disappointed time and time again. 90% of what people pay for when it comes to the entertainment industry is disappointing and they more often than not feel ripped off. You went and bought a CD from a new band, after you`ve heard a catchy tune on the radio/TV: usually the rest of the CD turns out to be worthless. The same with the movies: how often an advertisement reflected your expectations: how often you were disappointed? More often than not, I would guess. Clever promoting can describe anything and everything as desirable: from the producers of… the man, who played in the… the band that opens for… the winners of… the triple nominees… the receiver of the 5 stars… Piracy allows for a fair play.
As with any other merchandise- be it a piece of clothing or a fruit: file sharing allows you to touch the product, to feel it and to smell it, before deciding whether you like it enough to pay for it. Piracy should not be judged any harsher than sampling several kinds of cheese or ham and then deciding that you actually don`t like any of them and leaving the deli empty handed. When it comes to culture, any normal human (specially a teenage ”fan”) would donate an organ to his/her favorite artist. I shouldn`t really have been able to afford paying those money to see my favorite movie twice. Still, there is this strong feeling of solidarity; the desire to show appreciation for the artist, whose music almost made you cry or a director, whose film has changed your life. Their art is so important to you, that you would generously donate what you can to keep them producing. Moreover- I am sure it`s true for the majority: if you had huge amounts of cash: you would probably sponsor a new album or a movie with a few hundred thousand $. There is the point however: I wouldn`t sponsor anything from the Disney corp. They are doing just fine as it is, still they are the ones sewing the teenagers: Fox, Universal, and Disney etc- not the independent low budget ones. Peculiar, wouldn`t you agree? What are the great corporations so worried about is seemingly this very democratization of the culture and knowledge. They are not fighting for the rights of the small garage bands and DJs or the directors, who produce their masterpieces with a hand held cameras. They are fighting for those artists and actors, who are already making millions (!) of dollars, (despite the piracy), for a few days/weeks of the enjoyable work. The rights that are being fought for are those of the people who make absolutely insane amounts of money. Then there is a small matter of concerts, when it comes to the musicians. You would never hear a small band complaining about the file sharing- because for them it is the best advertisement they can afford, which allows them to be heard and attracts folks to their live acts.

 PIRACY= DEMOCRATISATION of the culture and of the knowledge. As once the books were a privilege of the rich elite, so is a collection of the Blue ray discs is today. Piracy allows the artists to make money not because they have an extra 5000000 $ to invest in a promotion of the various quality product, but because they truly have a talent, according to the kids talking to each other, instead of listening to what is called “cool” or get played allot.
THE LAW AND WHY TO BREAK IT
The IPRED- International Property Rights Enforcement Directive, the law that was enforced on the 1st of April 2009 by the private multimedia corporations that basically proclaimed 1/3 of the teenagers as criminals. An EXTREMELY dangerous and counterproductive move! Let’s however imagine that in some sick screwed up universe it has worked:
1. The multimedia corporations will not gain a single penny due to its success. Those who can`t afford 20$ for a CD won`t start buying them because they are threatened by the law.
2. If the piracy would magically stop, thanks to this law: the corporations will actually lose money, thanks to it, since the multimedia will no longer be available to the majority of the most important consumers: the youth. It will become an exclusively rich ones domain: those who can afford to buy 300$ worth of CDs/month and then throw over half away, after discovering that it`s just crap, not measuring up to the promise.
3. The culture itself will lose in its quality. Sadly- what sells is often simply shit. Produced by the exclusive teams of the executives, who are appealing to the most basic and primitive of the instincts, such as sex and violence, trusting that it is what sells.
4. International cultural exchange will take an enormous blow as well as the true exchange of talent.
5. If there is such a thing as a professional pirates- they will be unaffected by the law. Already there are ways of encryption/ making ones IP-address unavailable, if one was to have a 50Mb/sec connection and  15 computers, burning CDs 24/7- those are the people, who easily can make themselves untouchable.
6. Majority of the people, who will get ”busted” will be the parents of the teens, since it`s the parents who are almost always stand for the internet connection account and the IP address. Also there will be a tsunami of the cases, where people`s IP`s were stolen, hacked or as the case with the wireless internet- used by others anonymously. Universal’s representative in the IPRED lobbying confirmed in a recent interview that both of the cases as very the plausible- in other words: yes- basically the innocent people will get charged with breaking the IPRED law left and right.
7. One shall be EXTREMELY careful when prohibiting anything: more often than not it`s counterproductive. The ”crime” always goes deeper underground and becomes more hardcore. While proclaiming a whole generation as criminals gives them that extraordinary feeling of unity, solidarity- being ”us against them”. They did not know what the real pirate was- now they will see. Because now it`s WAR and going to war against your own sons and dotters is never a good idea.
8. File sharing is the natural progression (as was in the case with the pornography). Stalling the development is also counterproductive. The majority of the ”pirates” would gladly pay a part of their allowance to support their favorite artist or a director. Just for the solidarity`s sake. Yet they have to be met half way: not being brain washed by the commercials and then ripped off their pennies for a substandard product, but being allowed to taste the merchandise and then pay a reasonable price for what they consider to be the best. A teen would pay 40$ for a T-Shirt, worth 2 $ to produce, they will happily part with their 20$ of the pocket money for a poster or 50$ for a concert ticket. There is nothing like the teenage love of a fan.
9. “Give them a finger and they will take an arm”. A phrase that is very true when it comes to the laws of the control, money and prohibition. What few may care to realise is that by not fighting against the IPRED, we are giving them the right to fully watch over the internet communication. You may say: it`s all good, because more pedophiles will get busted. Well: the truth they will not get busted any more or less. Internet is not more responcible for paedofililia, than than postal service is for the drug addiction.
The government, whose purpose is to protect the rights and the interests of the citizens has sold out the right to watch over the internet communication to the few multibillion private corporation, going against the private citizen`s interests, to ensure, that those who make many millions will continue to do so. While those who can`t afford 20$ for a CD can now be sewed for 45000$. At the political” debate” there was not a single anti- IPRED representative invited. The deal was made without any voting. You may think that it does not concern you, since you are a law abiding member of the society. I will not go into the details right now, but having grown up in the USSR: trust me: IPRED is one of the most sinister laws in the modern democracy`s history and it has been approved without anyone asking for your opinion. Your government has sold your children`s interests for the monetary interests of the ultra rich. You think that your kid is law abiding and so are you, thus there is nothing to worry about. Think again. It is not about downloading a few songs, it`s not even about stupefying, packaging, mass-producing and selling the culture under the supervision of the few corporations. It is about your very freedom. Dramatic? I am sure it sound so now, however give me 2-3 years and you will see what I mean. 10. Internet. The greatest tool in humanity’s development, perhaps since the invention of the written word.
All due to its` one unique quality: it`s FREE in the most noble sense of the word. It`s by the people for the people. It has its` ugly sides, reflecting the human nature in all its glory and its pity. It was growing, constantly changing- surprising an ”Funny thing”: Since I`ve published this piece, my net connection has been strangled down to a few kilobytes, while my visitors counter on this blog has been on a permanent zero since, even though I`ve logged in to it from different computers. No reason to get paranoid, right? The guy, who has done nothing more, but allowed his domain to be used. Yes: a dot there. He has never spread any copyrighted material, neither has he encouraged it, nor has he benefited from it as much as you may led to believe. The guy got a year in prison, plus 30.000.000 kr (a new Volvo costs 200.000). For selling cocaine, cannabis, amphetamine and benzo- I got 8 months. For a rape or beating your girlfriend half to death you may get with less. Wake the fuck up! It is not about the file sharing teens; it is about the mind control, the big brother, the G. Orwell`s 1984. Now we are at the stage when we are brainwashing ourselves: to maintain freedom we must sacrifice the liberty kind of thing.
We shall actually fight to be enslaved- motivated and united by an invisible enemy we shall be turn on our selves. I don`t mean the word “shal” as a prophetic pretext, since it is already happening. In USA it`s the terrorists, in Europe it`s the pirates and paedophiles and human traffickers that are moulding the keys to lock our cells.
Any dictatorship have always been afraid of educated ones like of nothing else. So- just read on the issues, watch some documentaries, listen to some smart people, before drawing a conclusion.
Think. Please.