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So a serious question for HN: The primary objection seems to boil down to the idea that the people of whatever other country (in this case Angola) should not be
by FussyZeus 11y ago
So a serious question for HN: The primary objection seems to boil down to the idea that the people of whatever other country (in this case Angola) should not be beholden to the ideals and laws of the country where these things are coming from (in this case the United States). While I totally agree with the idea that the US's copyright system is in dire need of repair, I can't help but think that saying it's alright for another country's people to entirely subvert the rule of law of another nation will result in nothing but anarchy. I understand the fact that many people in these situations either have no ability to or it's incredibly hard for them to attain these same things legally, and that's terrible (and a huge opportunity to be solved by an enterprising group to be honest), but while I think that the spread of general knowledge such as Wikipedia is a net gain, I don't think that same thing can be applied to Transformers and Naruto.
So the question I posit is this: Does an inability to acquire something legally, for whatever reason, justify stealing it and if so where do we draw the next line?
- jacalata 11y agoIt's already possible, common and expected for people in one country to subvert the laws of another country - for instance, Americans don't think they should be jailed for spreading Holocaust denialism, do they? Why should Germany not have the obvious right to enforce that law on the entire internet? How do you see that case as different to this one? (Aside, of course, from the money Hollywood is prepared to spend on it).
- FussyZeus 11y agoThe difference that springs immediately to mind is that holocaust denial is an idea, a concept, where movies and games are intellectual products not intended for free exchange. Apples and oranges.
- emodendroket 11y agoThe distinction between an "idea" and an "intellectual product" doesn't seem very satisfying.
- FussyZeus 11y agoThe distinction is whether the creator wants to profit from it or give it away.
- emodendroket 11y agoSo what if I want to sell a text that is also hate speech?
- FussyZeus 11y agoI don't think you'd have many customers, but I'm sure there are at least a few white supremacist periodicals making money in the US.
- emodendroket 11y agoOK, but the point is that we have items that could plausibly fall into either category, not that I plan to start a racist periodical.
- jacalata 11y agoThat sounds a lot like "because I agree with one set of laws and not the other".