Some Thoughts on File Sharing

So, last night I was doing research for my part-time blogging gig when I came across a post on Engadget.com about how former KISS tongue-man Gene Simmons thinks all file-sharers' "...freshly-scrubbed little kid's face should have been sued off the face of the earth."

Resisting the urge to post a comment saying that "I'd like to see every leather-faced, washed-up, has-been rocker stop making crappy TV shows and just quietly go into the night instead of forcing us all to bother with them," instead I added the below comment to the pile of 140+ already there (apparently, there are a lot of people who have pro and con opinions on file sharing):

If someone came into my home and made a perfect copy of my TV and then walked out, I wouldn't care because it's *not theft*. See, I still have my TV. Now, if I had built that TV from scratch and someone came in and made an exact copy of my TV and walked out with it, it's still *not theft* BUT I would want a REASONABLE fee.

NOT an unreasonable one.

$10-$20 for a CD or DVD?

Ridiculous. I paid $3 for that shitty Radiohead album (and it was crap, I think I deleted it, I don't remember) and plan on going back to pay Saul Williams $5 for his since I actually like it.

This is how REASONABLE people do business. Unreasonable people have to make every damn dime they can and be as ridiculously rich as they can be probably because they have nothing else going for them in life.

I wouldn't turn down that kind of money, but going after it aggressively? Sorry, "seeing how much I can get away with" is not my idea of a way of life or a way to do business.

Hey, here's a thought: remember when the USG banned alcoholic beverages? How'd We the People deal with that?

We drank anyway and eventually it was made legal.

Welcome to the future, folks!

Here it is... take it!

Moderation, folks. You want to charge too much for your stuff? The market will speak. This is the capitalist way of things. You want to be a capitalist? DEAL with people spending as little as possible to get your stuff because (odds are) you spent as little as possible to make it.

This goes to the whole Writers' Strike thing I was talking about the other day. If the studios would just be reasonable, I don't think anyone would be striking.

But, nope! Extreme Rulez so, everyone wants to get as extremely rich as possible.