SOPA

[QuadShot]

Let me bottom line this. SOPA is DOA, Forget it. Piracy, however, is a real issue. Small relative to many others facing this country, but an issue non the less. This is not a moral issue, I don't think King or my younger brother, or anyone else of the many people I know and love who downloads content illegally is a bad person. What this is an economic issue. People steal content over the internet to avoid PAYING for it. For the most part, other times it's simply because it's not available via broadcast or cable or satellite in the US. People who do that are just petulant children who need it NOW! So the economics are you either pay for it or not. If you think what is offered is too expensive, vote with your wallet and don't buy it. Using the internet as an excuse to get around that simple approach of fair capitalism is BS.  It's that people are TOO CHEAP to pony up what the market is demanding. Don't like it, change the market the legal way.

Very well said Bryan. I agree.

Look, there has been many, many times that I wanted to get a movie, song, program that I just couldn't afford. The easy thing to do would have been to visit one of these "file sharing" sites and get it for free. But...it's not legal. I don't care what kind of spray paint you put on that turd, it's still a turd. You can say file sharing sites are harmless and their intent is NOT to promote piracy, but that's BS and we all know it. If you deny, you're justifying. King, I know you're not a bad person, not at all. But dude, saying that piracy is wrong, then admitting you download things you want because they're currently too expensive or not readily available to you is just spray painting a dog turd and calling it art. Stealing is stealing. A lot of people justify their actions by claiming "art and entertainment and internet, etc" should be free, we shouldn't have to pay for what belongs to everyone. Well, pooh on that my friends. The way I view it is like this: do you work for free? Do you go into your job everyday and tell your boss don't pay me, what I do should be free to the world? Uh, no...So why the heck would you feel that another's hard work should be free to you? Maybe I'm from a different era where I believe you are only "due" what you're due. If you work, you get paid. If you want something, you pay for it, and I'm not saying "hey, I go to movies and pay the stupid high cost of a ticket so I AM paying for entertainment down the line". That mentality doesn't fly. It doesn't matter that you pay for cable, pay for NetFlix. If you download something that you are not actively paying for...stealing.

I agree with Rico that we are over charged for stuff most of us don't use, and I would LOVE for cable and satellite TV companies to start offering "cafeteria" plans, but until then we have two choices: Pay for what we want or do without. It may be oversimplifying, but using the mentality that I want this movie but can't afford to buy the DVD so I'll download it is the same as saying I can't afford a new car so I'll go to the lot and take one. Just my 2.5 cents (inflation and all!)

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Interesting development, apparently Whitehouse.gov and the Department of Justice are blacking out their websties in protest of the SOPA initiatives.  No wait, it's a pissed off hacker group taking revenge on the US Government for what they percieve as an illegal police action on foreign soil.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/01/anonymous-strikes-back-against-justice-universal-sopa-supportersattack-on-whitehousegov-underway.ars

Welllll, we do have a tendancy of sticking our noses where it doesn't belong.  That said, I don't the hacker group is even morally correct.  This is up the justice system now. 

King

[KingIsaacLinksr]

@Al Its as I said, I'm dropping TV this year because I keep defaulting to alternative methods to watch the shows.  Hasn't been a worthwhile movie this year to bother watching paid or otherwise ;).  (Well, at least it sure feels like it).

As far as file-sharing goes, there are legitimate reasons to using them.  Yea, I know, not everyone uses them legitimately, but there have been movie companies who distributed their movie purely through a Torrent website as a way to promote their movie and I think they accepted donations if I remember correctly.  And if Megaupload's commercial is to be believed, several prominent artists use it to share their music across the web.   

And I don't believe everything should be free.  That's a ridiculous notion no matter what.  But these companies could be doing a better job.  Tis all I'm saying. 

King

[QuadShot]

King, fair enough. And by the way, if anyone is interested in file sharing, I have some shirtless photos of Bryan posing suggestively on a white bear skin rug  I can share with you :)

[Bryancd]

King, fair enough. And by the way, if anyone is interested in file sharing, I have some shirtless photos of Bryan posing suggestively on a white bear skin rug  I can share with you :)

:ohbaby

[KingIsaacLinksr]

King, fair enough. And by the way, if anyone is interested in file sharing, I have some shirtless photos of Bryan posing suggestively on a white bear skin rug  I can share with you :)

*coughs* I'll pass.  ;).

King

[Bryancd]

*coughs* I'll pass.  ;).

King

...chicken...

[QuadShot]

King, fair enough. And by the way, if anyone is interested in file sharing, I have some shirtless photos of Bryan posing suggestively on a white bear skin rug  I can share with you :)

*coughs* I'll pass.  ;).

King

Ok, but you don't know what your missing...

[billybob476]

Why do all of our conversations degenerate to racy pics of Bryan? :)

[QuadShot]

Why do all of our conversations degenerate to racy pics of Bryan? :)

Really? You have to ask? :)

[Dangelus]

*coughs* I'll pass.  ;).

King

...chicken...

There was a chicken involved?!! ;)

[QuadShot]

*coughs* I'll pass.  ;).

King

...chicken...

There was a chicken involved?!! ;)

Uh, yeah, but the chicken has been put under a court gag-order not to talk about...well, what happened...:)

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Honestly, I keep forgetting what Bryan looks like thanks to his Avatar.  I keep thinking he looks like that every time he reads my posts on this forum.  Then when we have the occasional vid podcast, well, reality sets back in.  And honestly, I don't want to see Captain Kirk on a rug o_O....

I'm not crazy.

King

[KingIsaacLinksr]

So this happened: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120120/14472117492/mpaa-directly-publicly-threatens-politicians-who-arent-corrupt-enough-to-stay-bought.shtml

Disgusting.

King

[QuadShot]

So this happened: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120120/14472117492/mpaa-directly-publicly-threatens-politicians-who-arent-corrupt-enough-to-stay-bought.shtml

Disgusting.

King

Good. Maybe now politicians will have to EARN their jobs, instead of having a mega-rich movie/TV/recording star buy their elections for them...