Between life happening, pathetic internet service, and complicated by many file host's (now called "cyberlockers" I guess) committing suicide, I've decided to take a break. Most of my files were on Rapidshare or Mediafire so I was lucky (grab them quick).
I still have stuff to share and I really hate seeing good music disappear into obscurity. So I may be back or I may join another blog. I'm undecided at this time.
However, in my absence, remember that apathy is the real enemy.
For an example, set aside Dotcom's colorful, checkered past for a moment. Taking MegaUpload down, using overly broad, trumped up statements and SWAT teams was over the top. Another side is that Dotcom had been replaced as CEO at Mega ("the conspiracy") with a business model that intended to compete with major labels for distribution. MegaUpload had sued UMG for their illegal takedown requests which featured UMG's "A" list in promos. That was as good as any reason to declare war and get the DOJ involved.
Let's not forget that Hollywood publicly
admitted to bribery when some politician's didn't stay "bought"... The educated public is the worst foe that Washington DC insiders have nightmares about. So keep it up. Talk to family, neighbors, co-workers about censorship.
These trade agreements happen all the time behind closed doors, just like ACTA did, then laws are made to keep those same agreements. Now there's TPP (Wikipedia has good write-ups). The wicked never rest.
I have no doubt that boycotting enriches your cultural life but it doesn't do much when "lower sales are due to pirates" or the "customer is always wrong". The public may have moved on decades ago yet it's not fair to assume 'pirates' will always figure a way out. There's been many excellent blogs taken down that haven't been replaced, (Chocoreve, Chris Goes Rock are just two), and taking with them were massive archives of hard to find, rare or out of print music. I don't want to know about VPN, proxies, FTP's ....
The lesson prohibition should have taught us was that it's just not possible to make average things that average people do, illegal. Only now it's the whole world. How'd that 30 year "drug war" work out?
Copyrights are not about the money. They are about control over everything you see, watch, take, buy or eat. The great firewall of China was built due to "piracy".
I really wish that last statement was a joke.
Two questions; How can illegal "cyberlockers" make so much money doing what Hollywood says it can't? It wasn't illegal filesharing that brought the global economy to it's knees - so why did wall street get bonuses and MegaUpload gets jail?
Independent Musicians were Making Money from Downloads of Their OWN Material
What Happens to MegaUpload's Grammy Winning CEO?
Mega vs. UMG
“Imagine 450 million Megakey installations by 2015 with over 5 billion ad impressions per day. That pays for a lot of content,”
During the course of our discussion with Kim we also discovered an interesting feature that has been built into Megakey. Once installed the whole range of Mega sites can be accessed without the need to use the Internet’s DNS system, meaning that should SOPA kick in and the US government seizes Mega’s domains, users can still access the site."
Why History Needs Software Piracy
Cloudkillers
The Great Firewall of China was Once a Way to Stop Piracy
List of Internet Censoring Countries that Provide Good Examples for US
I could keep going ....
MegaUpload Users Plan to Sue as Their Data is about to be Destroyed
Isn't it strange how property rights shift between what's their's vs. our's?.
