People have been scaremongering on the topic of piracy since the dawn of the cassette tape. Usually I try to ignore it. It’s similar to trolling, but the ones who commit this trolling are so god damn sincere about it.
I write this because I read an article this morning on the Guardian that really got my goat. It’s written by an author I don’t know – Ewan Morrison.
Piracy = Cultural Disaster
He spends his time defending ACTA and pointing out how evil pirates stealing content are destroying the music, film, and journalism industries. Apparently it will be a “cultural disaster”.
MEPs in the European parliament have unwittingly signed their countries up for a future in which internet piracy will lead to the decline of film, the novel, journalism and music on an industrial scale.
This is not scaremongering [1. Yes it is].
I’m not going to quote any more nuggets of ignorance because it doesn’t get any better. Instead I’m just going to drop one rebuttal to this woeful article. I have many rebuttals, but I’m not going to go into them. The one I will use here seems most apt. It comes as a result of another article in the Guardian that came out on the very same day.
The Rebuttal
Apparently, the Google Nexus 7 will launch in UK without music, magazines or TV shows.
Google is to launch its flagship Nexus 7 tablet computer in the UK without music, magazines or TV shows after failing to strike rights deals with several media groups.
Google’s closest rival in the tablet market, Amazon, also failed to settle rights issues with media groups last year, meaning it has been unable to launch its Kindle Fire in the UK.
Ewan Morrison – once these lauded industries of yours make purchasing content less difficult than pirating, things might change. If I’m told I can’t buy digital copies of music or film because I’m living in the wrong region then I’m clearly going to say “fuck you and your idiotic distribution rights issues, I’m going to pirate this”.
Make it easy and affordable to buy content and the overwhelming majority of people will happily pay.
Some light relief
Update
Just read this article which reports that following the ISP blockade of the Pirate Bay, BitTorrent usage has increased. Seemed apt.
On a Variety of Topics 
It’s foolish to ignore the future of music distribution. It’s obvious that the old encumbents are bloated and slow to act. The 2009 book ‘Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Recording Industry in the Digital Age’ sums up the music industries loss of control
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