June 7th, 2007 by Atomictumor
I could swear I’ve done at least 4 posts with the lame pirate joke, but damn, its fitting.
I found out recently that I’ve gotten nabbed by Whitey McNoDownloady, for grabbing 4 exceptionally good episodes of Heroes off the fruited and abundant plains of the internet.
Yes, a network TV show. They can run it through your body free of charge on Thursday nights in the form of longwave beams, but you’d damn well better not get it on your hard drive, because they’ll bitch and moan. And, its their right. Its their right because we have a busted system, a system with no sense of fair use, a system with no perspective on copyright beyond the narrow minded and short sighted view of the lawyers and corporate executives.
Luckily, it was TV, where they really don’t do much other than have your ISP send a nastygram telling you what you did and how you’d better not do it again.
Ironically, well, I did it again. Even ironicallyer, the letter says the infraction was a year ago TO THE DAY (May Day, in fact) that I was busted for downloading Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (at least when I get busted, its for decent stuff. How bad would it be to get nabbed downloading something awful and culturally vacant like NASCAR Bandits or American Idol?).
I’m not going to bother bringing up my opinion of their stupid laws and corporate-leaning legal system, other than to say that I’m proud to have dropped a buck or two to the EFF, not just for the defense of fair use rights, but for the defense of normal people like you and I against a nation that wiretaps you, Real ID’s you, Guantanamo’s you, lies to you, and screws you over.
Hell, if I were bold enough, I’d damn near say in this day and age that peer to peer downloading is the geeky man’s civil disobedience.
But, in this case, its just a way for me to get a copy of a TV show on my TV at a time that my kid isn’t in bed. Timeshifting, the original fair use defense, which is as by-damned valid today as it was in the 80’s, when the MPAA tried to sue the VCR out of existence.
And for those concerned, my legal defense is outlined below:
June 7th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Hello TiVo!!!
June 7th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
You’re such an outlaw!! Or in your case, a pirate!!! Aaarrgh!!
You know Whitey though. It’s all about the benjamins, baby!
June 7th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Damn man, I’m disappointed. Couldn’t you have done it through daco’s server and I.D.? You know, frame him? With all the geek magic you perform that should have been simple.
June 7th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Jane, I have the ATivo, but, no cable.
June 7th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
I’m busy using his server and ID to host all those dirty websites.
June 7th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
CooooooL!
June 7th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Yep time to change some passwords…
June 7th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Don’t even try. AT is so smart he is able to shadow your moves on that system. Then, not if, but when you break something, he can fix it. You will be calling.
June 7th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Man Jacket, has he got you snowed. He’s really not that damn smart. Sure he’s tall and good lookin’, but hell man…the boy is dumber than a coal bucket.
June 7th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
LOL daco!!
I guess when you’re tall and good lookin’ that ought to be enough!!
June 7th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
He’s smart enough to run a porn operation from your site and you can’t seem to get it stopped. I wouldn’t go so far as to say he is good looking though. I don’t have the ability to judge a guy on his looks, good or otherwise.
June 7th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
I know. It’s called “plausible deniability.” I only let you rubes think that it is his porn operation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plausible_deniability
June 7th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
I have to say the tone of this comment thread is weak compared to the comment thread on “busted” that AT linked to above.
June 7th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
AT has laid down some pretty heady stuff. Consider, Hell, if I were bold enough, I’d damn near say in this day and age that peer to peer downloading is the geeky man’s civil disobedience. Civil disobedience!?? for crying out loud. Is down loading Heroes what Thoreau had in mind?
The tumor has gotten fat. Where’s the smack down acrimony of comments of yore? Where’s it gone?
June 7th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Well, chief, maybe if you’d descend from your high horse of washing machines and babies and comment on your website a time or two, you’d be steering things in the right direction.
How would you not define it as such?
June 8th, 2007 at 6:30 am
Let me clarifie. I actually think you’re right about the peer to peer being an act of civil disobedience.
I’m just surprised no body has called you on it. It’s breaking the law, right? Seems last time this came around it generated a pretty heated discussion. What’s changed? Is everbody at the tumor a downloading pirate?
June 8th, 2007 at 8:41 am
I don’t know, perhaps it’s lack of sleep, but my comments above are harsh beyond what I’d intended.
I regret that.
June 8th, 2007 at 8:43 am
Dude, I think you’re right. Maybe everybodys scared I’ll kircher em if they cross me?
June 8th, 2007 at 9:23 am
Does civil disobedience = consumer disobedience? Seems like the epitome of consumer culture co-option.
June 8th, 2007 at 10:20 am
From my perspective, if the laws at this point are being written by those with the money to afford the lawyers and politicians (ie, current copyright, DMCA, etc), then we’ve reached a point where yes, its the same thing.