File Sharing Leads To A Life Of Crime
from the it's-a-starter-drug dept
Pulling a page from anti-drug advocates who claim that some drugs lead to harder drug usage, the recording industry up in Canada has now released a study (which they paid for, of course) that says that kids who download unauthorized files online are more likely to cheat on exams and to shoplift. Also, because what’s the recording industry without some hyperbole, they want you to know that it “threatens the economy.” What they really mean, of course, is that it threatens their particular industry and their particular business model — which (despite their own beliefs) does not equal “the economy.” Still, it seems like at least some in the press are getting fed up with the recording industry constantly making these kinds of claims. One reporter, who challenges the bias of the company that did the study, jokes that it’s like “old joke about the puritan minister who condemns sex standing up because it might lead to dancing.” If only it were that funny.
Comments on “File Sharing Leads To A Life Of Crime”
They paid for nothing...
Let’s see, why would anyone shop-lift when they can get it from the internet with less of a risk? I mean c’mon! I wonder how much they paid for that crap of a report/study as it is more false than my grandmother’s teeth!
Re: They paid for nothing...
How do you propose I download oh let’s say… a lamp?
Re: Re: They paid for nothing...
you can download lamps here…
http://www.freelamps.com/
Lemme get this straight
I am a straight A student who achieves top marks. I also happen to download the occasional song every so often. Does that mean I am more likely to cheat then that poser who never shows up for class and does drugs? Right.
Re: Lemme get this straight
I agree downloading does hurt these corporations, and industries mbut I cant afford lets say Windows or Microsoft office. There is no way I can pay 4, 5 or $600 dollars for a piece of software create a resume in Word or what not.
I know that still doesn’t make it right but if they would make software cheaper for the average consumer they would make more money in the long run and have more supporters for their products, and still make the big buck from enterprise sized companies.
Re: Re: Lemme get this straight
“I agree downloading does hurt these corporations, and industries mbut I cant afford lets say Windows or Microsoft office. There is no way I can pay 4, 5 or $600 dollars for a piece of software create a resume in Word or what not. “
You don’t need Windows or Office to resume. You can use Wordpad to make a decent Resume.
You could use a Mac or just use the version of Windows that comes with your computer or try Linux.
Or, God forbid a Typewriter.
You don’t need to use Office at all – There are plenty of free Office Suites available (Open Office, etc) that you could use.
Saying you need to steal Office or Windows is a pointless argument.
You NEED FOOD, WATER, and CLOTHING. You don’t need a computer.
Next they will be telling us
…if we download copyrighted files we will go blind. And the finger we use to push the mouse button will fall off.
And we’ll go to fiery hell.
Uh. Or something like that.
File Sharing Leads To A Life Of Crime
“… that says that kids who download unauthorized files online are more likely to cheat on exams and to shoplift.”
I did drugs, stole, cheated on tests, and now I download music. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
Re: File Sharing Leads To A Life Of Crime
A paradigm shift needs to oocur. The world could stop thinking in terms of private ownership, and begin to think in terms of public ownership. Every one would have a vested interest in creating better music and sharing it for example. thinking globally. McLuhan’s Global Village is here, and we’ve only just begun.
Re: Re: File Sharing Leads To A Life Of Crime
Wonderful idea, but doesn’t really work when we have an economy.
Well duh....
Anyone with a lick of sense knows that immorality leads to immorality, but downloading things is a gray area for many. This study is like saying, that letting girls wear mini skirts in grade school will lead them to be strippers when they are in college, or guys who like to peel every time they take off are likely to grow up to be car thieves. Absolutely absurd. I think I’ll go download the whole Internet real quick just to show them I am miffed.
Young Person Crime
Re: Canadians between the ages of 18 and 29 are much more willing than other age groups to make illegal copies of software programs, cheat on exams or even shoplift, an Environics poll suggests.
Ah, but are these youngsters more willing to:
* Lie on their tax returns
* Claim medical benefits they’re not entitled to
* Mistreat their own teenaged-children
Different types of people commit different types of crime and this ridiculous survey concentrates on “young person” crime without making this clear.
How many middle-aged people even do exams, let alone cheat on them?
Correlation does not imply causation
Without trying to get into a holy war about whether grass is dangerous or file-sharing is stealing, for the sake of argument assume that neither is the case.
Kid smokes grass, hangs out with other kids who do. Grass is illegal and requires access to a black market distribution network of some sort, and good business folks of any ilk are always on the lookout to market new products. I have no doubt that marijuana is a “gateway drug” but I have always strongly suspected that it’s because the users are already involved in the criminal market rather than that they’re looking for different and more dangerous chemical recreation. “The Man” says “drugs will kill you.” Grass doesn’t, so he lied. If you’re going to lie to a kid about the small stuff, why should he believe you on the big?
I can see how filesharing would similarly serve as a gateway to theft and cheating. It’s not that big a leap from the realization that downloading a song doesn’t actually hurt anyone to the realization that the record company loses only a dollar or so (and the artist virtually nothing). Cheating on an exam is essentially lying, but the record companies lie to protect their own interests when they say you’re stealing by downloading, so lying on a test should be okay, right?
Small steps, unintended consequences, and all that.