US is set to censor internet

[turtledude23]

Why should I be concerned about some seemingly sts web ring of websites that help pirate copyrighted work of others? Seems to me their karma is being rendered. Maybe i'd be alarmed if they weren't up to their necks in theft. Don't confuse justice with some made up illuminati conspiracy.

Knowledge and art should be free for everyone. Yes it sucks when small indie bands or authors have their stuff pirated because they may lose some revenue, but most people who want to buy their stuff still will, do not confuse every pirated copy as a loss of revenue, most people who pirate something would not have bought it. In fact some people end up buying something after pirating it because they never would have heard it other. Piracy can actually increase revenue.

Most stuff that is pirated is made by large movie studios, record labels, or television production companies whose executives and artists make ridiculous amounts of profit off low quality media that is often full of brainwashing. There is direct correlation between low quality media and viewiership/purchase, mainstream media companies simply can't afford to make anything of good quality. If they lose money, good, the sooner I see Warner and gang go bankrupt the better.

Piracy is not the exact same thing as theft because with digital media you can have unlimited copies where as theft of something physical is of something scarce, that's what makes theft bad in the first place. If I stole someones car, they don't have a car anymore and need to spend alot of money to buy a new one. That's why stealing something physical (scarce) is bad. If I download an mp3, there's still an infinite amount left of that digital file.

Alot of software is distributed for free and asks only that the user consider donating. This model is hard to apply to movies, music, and television because theyre expensive to make and require the resources of a large studio. So even if an artist wanted their work to be free, they couldn't do that because of the contract they sign with the studio. There are many independant artists now who use the aforementioned donationware model. What if all art was donationware? Then only the truly good quality artists will make a living or a profit off it. Piracy can accomplish that, it sets art and knowledge free and leaves the consumer with the choice of donating.

I used to believe in karma when I believed STO was the only possible path, but now that I know STS is a valid path too karma can't exist because Stalin and Ghengis Khan should have been tortured parapalgeics rather than 'allowed' to be leaders. There's only catalyst. So calling piracy website being censored karma is just disgusting. You actually believe there's a free will infring force that picks and chooses who suffers and who doesn't? Why are oil company CEOs living it up and good hearted nerds being taken to court? Calling piracy STS? I'm offended. What makes an act STS or STO is intention, I have run piracy websites and my intentions were STO: I wanted to share knowledge, art and useful software with whoever wants it. Did people lose money because of my actions? It's possible, but it would be impossible to prove. People might have gaiend money from my actions, as mentioned earlier. Was my intention for them to lose money? No. Will anyone lose their job because of what I did? I sincerely doubt it. Did I bring more convenience and happiness into peoples lives through sharing what I shared? Absolutely.

There is something called due process which needs to be applied for convicting someone of any crime, whether something serious like murder, or something which perhaps shouldn't even be considered a crime like "intellectual property" theft. Did you know that the film industry was founded on piracy? Anyone filming something was supposed to pay Thomas Edison a licensing fee, so people fled to the wild west to escape copyright laws.

There's some beautiful, inspiring, uplifting music I now love which I never could have heard if I hadn't downloaded it for free. I would have been a less happy person overall without music like The Moody Blues and Earth Wind & Fire, bands who's members are already very rich.

In an ideal world every talented artist should be able to make a living off their art, but this world is far from ideal and instead we have lucky few artists (many of whom have little talent and promote STS) making millions, and the vast majority of artists needing a second job. Mainstream media needs a new business model. They have thrived for so long on a closed system of expensive distribution that small artists couldn't realistically compete in, now they're finally losing their monopoly. Piracy will lead to greater quality in all art eventually because only the truly good art will be popular if all art can be obtained for free, and those good artists will receive the most donations.

Not obeying the arbitrarily defined system of acceptable behaviour we call law - which is often put in place by very STS people - is not the same as being a truly moral person. Piracy can change the way art and knowledge is created and distributed for the better and you can't even see that because you falsely believe thats as bad as stealing.