Dish Network Closing 500 Blockbuster Stores

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50. I think you're missing my point.

The idea of Copyright long predates digital copying and distribution. Trying to pretend that these things are the same as what copyright was invented to protect is where the real problem lays.

The RIAA does not hold copyrights. What they object to is how new methods of distribution have made their economic interests irrelevant. It is by far those corporations and organizations which have been exploiting copyright holders who want to extend traditional ideas of copyright to new technology. They fear their obsolescence and the end of their exploitative industry.

It is not what copyright holders feel about distribution of their work which is at issue. What is at issue is the culture we actually live in. I don't know how old you are, but I assume that you've either watched things you recorded on television or listened to albums dubbed onto cassette tapes if you're at least in your 30s.

You say I'm endorsing a "help yourself" attitude, but that's far from the truth. I do live in this world, however, and I observe how it actually functions. What I actually support are small record and video shops. The last two albums I got were purchased at a store that a friend of mine owns.

See, we don't have a choice in whether or not the information contained on cds is distributed by others or not. It will happen. Whether you like it or not, and whether or not you consider it illegal, it's still free. Legal or illegal, free is free.

If someone downloads one of my albums from a torrent or free download site, there's nothing I can do about it. That's very different than someone else claiming ownership of my compositions (which is what copyright actually protects). It's just the transmission of information - if you overhear someone listening to a record that you didn't pay for, are you stealing? Information is - whether we like it or not - freely exchanged by many means. New technologies just make this more evident.

Ultimately, what I find to be very telling in these arguments is how capitalism has become so enshrined in our psyche that everything - even free information - is treated as a commodity. Think about theft as an abstract idea outside of its relevance to capitalism and see if your argument still holds water. I think it doesn't.

If you're really interested in this topic, at least have a glance at this:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnx3d21wYXBlcnN8Z3g6ODkyYWVjMDlhZTRjZjg&pli=1