this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2023
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Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ
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It definitely seems more idealistic when it’s academic papers instead of Marvel movies, haha. Still, I guess it feels like the only way to get the upper hand for some people, so I can kind of understand the catharsis. I think for most people it’s just “get shit free”, some people feel like it’s a small act of rebellion, some people want an excuse to feel better about it, and some people probably are actually more idealistic about it.
I think there are legitimate questions for society in relation to piracy, though. Copying and transmitting data is essentially free in the modern era, and I feel like we still haven’t really figured out what that should mean. The issue of ownership is getting really weird in the digital age too… Like you used to be able to lend and resell things, and libraries with physical media were a simpler concept… but these things are tricky and cause problems when copying and sharing is so effective. I think there’s arguments to be had that this a pretty fundamental shift and that we should potentially reconsider how media and other things work economically.
I forgot about academic papers. That shit should be on Wikipedia or Archive. Literal knowledge shouldn't be copyright-able. Shout out to the data hoarders on that one.
EXACTLY. Academic publishing is actually kind of insane. It’s not like buying the paper even funds the research, it just goes to the publisher… and sure, you could argue that they do a service by basically being a muster point for peer review… but it just feels SO WRONG to put research (especially public funded research) behind a paywall.
The case for movies and games is absolutely a more contentious issue, but there are some similar arguments for the current system being a little dated (especially with respect to copyright law and how long it takes before works enter the public domain). All things being equal (e.g., assuming the creators can still make a living) the more people who have access the better! Of course it’s far less important that you can watch the latest movies or whatever (vs somebody accessing a research paper about a disease they have or something), but it’s still a bit of a shame to restrict access, and it feels like your ability to own copies of media is being eroded over time… And maybe that is worth caring about a little bit?