Poll: Kim Dotcom - Hero or Villian?
- Thread starter Lionsfan
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Guys a douche for not doing more to prevent copyright infringement. Cloud and server storage of information works fine for everyone else using it and providing it and not getting arrested.
The guy believes that information should be free, which is an admirable idea. It also means software development is a worthless profession because you can't see code if its meant to be free. That puts me out of a job and makes my degree expensive tissue paper. It also implies a sudden major blow to the development of software because if there is no money in it, then there will be far less interest in it and less progress will be made. The idea that information should be free is also often followed by the idea that ideas should be free. That opens a whole new slew of negative consequences if that were to become true.
The guy is also an ass for showing off with his stuff but that's a personal opinion.
I think the shit storm is brewing over control of information and I don't know if it will ever be solved. (and anyone who thinks the shit storm is already here, oh no my friends this is going to be a WW2 sized shitstorm because it might dictate the future of technology and the world).
The guy believes that information should be free, which is an admirable idea. It also means software development is a worthless profession because you can't see code if its meant to be free. That puts me out of a job and makes my degree expensive tissue paper. It also implies a sudden major blow to the development of software because if there is no money in it, then there will be far less interest in it and less progress will be made. The idea that information should be free is also often followed by the idea that ideas should be free. That opens a whole new slew of negative consequences if that were to become true.
The guy is also an ass for showing off with his stuff but that's a personal opinion.
I think the shit storm is brewing over control of information and I don't know if it will ever be solved. (and anyone who thinks the shit storm is already here, oh no my friends this is going to be a WW2 sized shitstorm because it might dictate the future of technology and the world).
Fair enough. From a really practical standpoint, the man is correct. Hollywood (amongst others) have been far too slow in making use of the new technology. This criticism doesn't just apply to American firms but all over. Just last week, HMV (The UK last major high-street record chain) filed for bankruptcy. Ten to fifteen years ago, they were rolling in it and thus blinded by hubris. The threat was there and it was real, they were simply unwilling to admit of its existence. All they could see were pound signs as records gave way to tapes, tapes to CD's, videos to DVD's, and DVD's to blue-ray. All at grossly inflated prices.Lionsfan said:
As for Kim himself, he's a businessman, and thus out to make money. A legal download site for all media should been there ten years ago. Yet it wasn't, even after the whole Napster debacle. If, as an executive, you didn't see the writing on the wall after that, well really, that's your own problem, isn't it.
Whether or not what he does is legal is a moot point. That changes all the time, relative these days it seems, to how much money you give to the right people. Whether or not its ethically correct, now we are at the meat of the issue. He had created the network, and was drawing vast profits from it. Yet at the same time, the content that ran through his system and that made is system so lucrative, this was taken without cost.
Now here comes the real gritty, was what he did theft? If I had downloaded something from his site for free, or even paid a subscription, who could be said to have been at fault? The industry line is, and always has been that I have taken a piece of their intellectual property without paying for it. Thus, that makes me a thief, and Kim an accessory to it.
Yet I could simply retort that their product was not something that I had any wish to buy in the first place. That they set their prices too high, very often operated what could only be described as a cartel. Plus, I could add, that the official 'choice' of products offered is laughable to say the very least and the item that I have acquired was not part of said 'official' list.
Furthermore, if you wish to see how a business model should be run, I would point Steam in their general direction. If there is a company that each and every dinosaur executive should be made aware of, its this one. Though thankfully now, we can get music and film for a reasonable price. It just took a bit longer than it should have. Yet, without the work done by the Kim Dotcoms of this world in forcing the establishment's hand, I doubt that anything would have changed at all. For that, we can be most grateful.