Here is the question:
You come across this blog and/or site, and it has a really hot photo of someone that really turns you on. So you right click and save it to your computer, then you go and write a piece about it, about how it turns you on. Next to that article you wrote, is a banner to promote a hot sex site.
Did you have the right to use that photo?
Now here is question number two:
You bought a dvd of your favorite sex movie. You love it so much, you, being the computer whiz you are, copy a few tracks of it, and upload it to your site & to some tube sharing site. You just put it there, for everyone to enjoy, cleary marking the video that it is from SO & SO COMPANY.
Did you have the right to do that?
And this is the last question:
You spend a few thousand dollars, to produce a video, along with an ad for your paysite. You sell it online, and distribute the ad to your affiliates. You get an email from an angry customer to your site, who says he paid you X Dollars per month to view the video you produced, that is now all over Youtube like sites.
How do feel, having your stuff ripped off and posted everywhere without your permission?
I think, we are too used to a double standard here. If we buy a dvd we somehow think we can do whatever we like with it, including sharing it online, and if we see a hot picture, we think it is okay to copy it and share it all over. Yet when it is our stuff, we go ballistic and want to rip the heart out of those who posted it all over.
We use coy words, to justify this, calling it ‘fair use’ and ‘it’s helping advertise the product’ but the truth is, we are stealing. I simply do not understand how people can ignore that reality. As webmasters, we should know better, because that is what we do, create products for sale.
How we can justify this theft, is beyond me, yet we do, and until we all come to grips with it, this rampant stealing of our intellectual property will continue. It does have an impact, it puts a burden on us, to recover the loss of revenue, by raising prices or using things like DRM that drives customer’s away.
It is something we should address, as a community, with one voice, and yet really, it seems very few are so inclined. Hell, many within our own community of webmasters, do it themselves, when it isn’t their product.
Mar 04th by Malcontent