Re: What is "piracy" and is it ever justified
 

Again, as I've said before.. I think these kind of thinking came about from:

1. incomplete understanding of the market (and how the world works in general).. this is usually from people who don't work.

2. people who cannot afford content that they want, so they rationalize an excuse to get it for free.

Re: What is "piracy" and is it ever justified
 

Yes I do and I completly support it. Why do we need 100 different media players? Why do we need dozens of different web browsers? Why do we need a never-ending continuation of The Sims games? Imagine Nokia/Intel/Microsoft/Apple/Google were ALL working TOGETHER to create 1 brand of phone (with different characteristics like keyboard, nokeyboard, flip, slider, with essential the same common basics) with 1 OS using the best of each other's ressources and technology...don't you think they would the best the world has ever seen?

That is where you and the vast majority of people are brainwashed. You do not see that those jobs are not necessary, and ANY automated job CAN be replacable by a machine. You should never say "because it has to be done" and ask instead "why it needs to be done". Do we really need people to clean bathrooms? Why not simply redesign bathrooms so that they can self-clean themselves? It never occur to you why should you do something you do not enjoy? What kind of lifestyle is this? What kind of world are we living in? The kind of world were it is more profitable to treat a disease instead of curing it? The type of world that decides to cut on scientific advancements because it is not financially rewarding?

Re: What is "piracy" and is it ever justified
 

Again I need to post this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc
The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.

I am a strong support of TZM/TVP to eventually live in a ressource-based economy rather than in a corrupt monetary system.

Re: What is "piracy" and is it ever justified
 

So Picasso\Da Vinci\Raphael\etc should only make one masterpiece each? Are you even familiar with the creative process? How living things grow their cognitive functions (and creativity) by iterative process?

Isn't part of FOSS own tenet, its creation, came about from wanting to have CHOICE? Wouldn't your rationalization SEVERELY LIMITS the options in the so called market?

The world doesn't work and get controlled by a single committee. Design by committee largely doesn't work, unless everyone is under a single dictatorship.

You also base (and limit) your thinking just by a few basic ideas which work out on paper (if everyone works on a single thing, that thing will get done faster) but fail to take into account soooooooooo many other things.

see also: brook's law
see also: free market
see also: competition is good
see also: point #1 of my post above

ps: under your worldview, there would be no Nokia\Google\Apple\etc; because they get no incentive to invent, innovate and create new things.

Re: What is "piracy" and is it ever justified
 

No you misunderstood my point, I apologize for not making myself clear. They can make as much masterpieces as they want, I am not saying to only make one. What my point is meant to mean, I'm gonna have to explain with Hip Hop references since I am very knowledgeable in that domain. Pretend that no artists ever get paid for their work. We would still have people like KRS-One, WuTang Clan, Run-DMC, Rakim, Slick Rick, or even James Brown, Bob Marley, Kool & The Gang that would STILL be making music. Why? Because their incentive was never to get money, but only to express their artistic point of view via music. In that "world", we would NEVER EVER see the likes of Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Lindsey Lohan, 50 Cent, Justin Bieber because they simply DO NOT have talent and people would simply choose NOT to listen to them.
Brook's law only applies to project that are already late. If the best minds of the world start working together in a new project, that principle would not apply. And no, in my worldview there would be no corporations at all, only individuals applying their creativity and ingenuity in order to ease/satisfy people's lives. You are very wrong to judge me that way, I am very well aware of the so-called "capitalist" society we live in. Free Market and Competition are 100% wrong and should NOT exist! I think it is you who is in an incomplete understanding of reality. If you give everybody the ability to openly compete, all you're gonna see is a huge propensity towards Monopoly and Cartels, and hence power consolidation. That's all that Free Market accomplishes, despite the romanticism that people claim otherwise. I challenge anybody to explain to me how Free Market could exist without regulation. It will only lead to people covering up, in a warfare matter to shut down anything that is competing with them, that's the whole goal. Again, Monopoly and Cartel are the highest form of the so-called "Free Market". We shouldn't be surprise that we have monopoly and cartels running everything now. The FDA and the senate being paid off, this is free market at work, this is what it creates. And it still blows my mind that, that attribute is utterly denied by people who are proponent of this system...but I won't even go into all of that.

To resume, no, there is no way that a free market could ever exist. It is impossible.
Actually no, it's not impossible but it will only self-destruct in a very short period of time.

Re: What is "piracy" and is it ever justified
 

You are very confused. Monopoly and Cartel is the opposite of Free Market. These are created either by political power or conspiracy and force to actively shut down free market in areas they operate.

And you are confusing regulation with protection.
Free market does not need regulation - it regulates itself. It needs protection from parties trying to remove this freedom.
A bit like the GPL uses few "regulations" to protect itself from implying more regulations.

And this is why humans invented societies and countries - to protect themselves. This is a job for government - to protect the people from outside and internal threats. Nothing more and nothing less. Protect the borders, personal freedom, proprietorship and free market. Rest will create emergent order by itself.

Re: What is "piracy" and is it ever justified
 

By that definition, you are either saying:
1) We currently do not have free market
or
2) There is no monopoly and cartels in existence

Go tell all the small towns that face Walmart what you just told me.

Am I seriously the only person in this forum to think that there is a problem with the way capitalism runs this society...?

Re: What is "piracy" and is it ever justified
 

Yes.
Currently we have different types of socialism.

Re: What is "piracy" and is it ever justified
 

Alright, on that I can agree with you. If pure true free market existed, I might support it. But i don't believe it does and ever will.

Re: What is "piracy" and is it ever justified
 

In a way I find it funny that some people do not see how same kind of situation you are in monopoly, oligopoly or cartel compared to socialism or even communism. "We have freee market, We have free market!", "No! You have cartel where corporations spend _huge_ amount of money to lobby their interest". Money goes to share holders compared to government. There is difference there that anyone can join the "party" by buying stocks, but still it´s in a way same kind of situation. So do not wonder why EU is quite strict on some corporations, e.g. Microsoft.

And some on topic video
Neil Gaiman on copyright piracy and the Web.
http://wimp.com/neilgaiman/