News - BPI says it wants Pirate Party UK Pirate Proxy gone

[HEXUS]

The BPI has sent the Pirate Party a nice letter.

Read more.

[Kushan]

Say what you will about piracy, the free and open internet is the single greatest achievement of the human race. I think it's utterly wrong trying to censor it.

[aidanjt]

We are passionate believers in freedom of speech

Which explains why you're trying to shut down a website.. oh wait, it doesn't.

but it doesn't justify The Pirate Bay helping themselves to other people's work

That's because they're not. Torrent technology doesn't work that way.

[Noxvayl]

http://www.everythingisaremix.info/

It is about time we stopped this nonsense.

[davesom555]

Speaking as someone who doesn't really pirate stuff - wouldn't a lot of money that could be sent to artists etc be acquired by getting rid of bodies like the BPI. I'm pretty sure that people that pirate stuff wouldn't actually buy the crap they are pirating anyway.

[BiblicalShower]

Speaking as someone who doesn't really pirate stuff - wouldn't a lot of money that could be sent to artists etc be acquired by getting rid of bodies like the BPI. I'm pretty sure that people that pirate stuff wouldn't actually buy the crap they are pirating anyway.

I have a good number of times. Especially with games I'm interested in that don't have a demo available I've played and then paid for it on Steam etc.
It's mostly the artist's/publisher's/label's way of working that leads me to pirate first/buy later, if at all.

For example some movies released in America on Blu-Ray before the film's even come out in the cinema over here (Ted being a recent example.)
Or being annoyed as a fan and supporter of an artist's music and actually buying the album on release, only to have a "Special Edition" version come out about 6-8 months later with 5 extra songs, video content, etc. That especially annoys me.

[bridges009]

Speaking as somebody who used to buy CDs by the dozen, it wasn't broadband and file sharing that killed my enthusiasm in music, it was the unscrupulous and self defeating business practises of the major labels and the utter garbage they chose to promote to the detriment of everything else. My Spotify Premium account is all I'm willing to pay for now, and even that gives cause to use alternate methods because of all the inexplicably "unavailable" tracks.

[Brewster0101]

Hmmm

[OilSheikh]

I made some comments about this few days ago and was basically laughed at by people here for my suggestions on how to have best of both worlds - where pirates will pay if something is affordable and decent price.

[JSanders]

Some if not most people who use TPB just aren't stupid enough to buy a "EP" CD (Extended Play filled with all the previous songs and a few remixes) for a few extra £. It just doesn't make sense. Till everyone wakes up and makes prices the way they should be, no one will stop using TPB and more shall join everyday. Just my two cents.

[Barakka]

We have devalued artistic intellectual property to a level where it is virtually worthless and fully deserve the future we have in store for us where the only music and visual entertainment available will be X factor and TOWIE delivered by iTunes and Tesco.

[Spud1]

Horrible moral situation this.

On the one hand, censorship of the internet is abhorrent. It's wrong and should never be in place - I can't agree with/condone blocknig of any website, whatever it's content..goes against the point of the internet.

However, Piracy, or even just the pirate bay (which facillitates piracy but does not in itself pirate or host pirated content) is equally abhorrent and morally wrong.

What should happen? The owners of TBP should get some morals and decide to shut their site down. That will never happen though, they make far too much money to care..so we are left with an impossible situation

Oilsheikh - I think that is where we are heading, where the price is reduced down to a level where most people will pay (and that includes *most* pirates). There will always be a "harcore" set of people who believe that you should never charge for creative works, or those who just want to "take take take" without giving even a penny back - but I don't believe thats the majority.

[shaithis]

I made some comments about this few days ago and was basically laughed at by people here for my suggestions on how to have best of both worlds - where pirates will pay if something is affordable and decent price.

Indeed. Still makes me irate that games publishers sell the same product in China, Russia etc at a fraction of the main EU price.

It's just like the US>GBP "conversion rate" but substantially worse.

And as I said in another thread.....I go cinema a lot and enjoy watching films again....So £10+ for the cinema viewing....then £15 for the BluRay....... "Hand me the lube!"

There is some liberty taking going on in the IP world.

[dangel]

However, Piracy, or even just the pirate bay (which facillitates piracy but does not in itself pirate or host pirated content) is equally abhorrent and morally wrong.

I'm not sure I agree - I see the censoring of the internet to suit a (corrupt and unfair) business model that is struggling to be relevant to not really be for the greater good of mankind. They're not an elected body after all, or even a 'person' - they're a huge money making corporate machine with little or no regard for the 'art' they sell. OTOH people will pirate things and, realistically, there's little you can do to stop that - but ask yourself why an industry that's at the mercy of all us evil peons continues to make vast quantities of cash right through a global recession? It's only if you believe all people won't ever buy anything and are pathologically evil (which makes no sense) or you have a vast self interest in increasing your profits that the extreme point of view makes any sense.

I'm far more worried about censorship for corporate interest than I am about you copying Kylie's new album.

[addz17]

It boils down to money imo, the all the rich media masters want to be richer. If they had it their way it would be copyright infringement to go to my friends house to watch a DVD, each person should have their own personal copy -_-

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The RIAA says yahhhhh??