A victimless crime?
Years ago a made a film called Victimless Crimes. It was about a pair of art thieves who stole paintings with the theory that no one got hurt. The gallery owner got his insurance money, the artists had already been paid, so why not rip them off. See, a victimless crime. Aren't I clever.
While I enjoy referencing myself and my work, I am bringing it up because of the issues I recently blogged about- file sharing and file stealing. I wouldn't steal a library book or a computer. Why would I steal a computer file? Why would I take something I know has been stolen? Just because the software company, or Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington in the case of American Gangster. Aren't physically around as one takes their property does not make it OK.
On one of my first posts I wrote about You Tube and how much I disliked them. The main reason was because of all of the illegal work up there. At the time I mentioned my own work with Denny Dent was available on You Tube because someone had taken a copy and posted it. While they did it as a tribute to Denny, and at first I was flattered, now I am greatly bothered.
fEERtherepEER, the person who posted it, needs to know that what they did was wrong. And while I appreciate the 47,851 views (minus my two viewings) you do not have my permission to use it. It is my work, my property. Stop.
This is not a victimless crime.
PeterH
2 comments:
This is a hot topic these days. The ease of downloading illegal music and movies with the click of a button does seem like a victimless crime to many. I've heard a lot of excuses from 'well the people we are taking from have so much money already' or 'I'm not selling it to anyone, it is for me personally' I feel like it's hard for someone to understand because they are not picking it up and putting it in their pocket that it's wrong.
I could not agree with you more! This is an issue for a multitude of industries, primarily the entertainment industry. The Writers Strike is in full force with "downloading issues" and new media being a primary focus.
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