p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:-According to The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, the verb ‘to own’ means ‘to have something which belongs to you, especially because you have bought it, been given it etc and it is legally yours.’

And ‘ownership’ is defined as ‘the fact of owning something’.

Personal property: ‘the thing or things that someone owns’ which includes ‘tangible personal property’, items such as furniture, clothing, jewelry, art, writings, or household goods. In common law, tangible personal property is sometimes referred to as ‘chattels’.

That’s ‘chattels’, not ‘cattle’, as The KKK (Korrupt Kopyright Kartels) consider their customers. One could argue they also treat us like chattels.

There’s also the well-known adage, ‘Possession is nine-tenths of the law’. Although this is not an actual law, it is a rule of thumb – one which has proven to be useful in civil court and small claims court.

Almost since the time of the Lumière brothers’ first public screenings in 1895 (and before that, Edison’s phonograph almost two decades earlier), events which are considered the first instances of cinema as a mass medium, the unwashed masses (that’s us, you see) have been at the mercy of faceless corporations which control what we see, hear and read; when we can see, hear or read it; and what’s demanded we pay for it.

But no more. That’s how it was in the 19th and 20th centuries.

As consumers, we own a lot of things including DVDs and CDs.

I also own the MPAA, an organization I endearingly refer to as ‘My BIYATCH’.

That’s right. The MPAA is my biyatch.

My biyatch has an attitude problem. Take a look at this:

My biyatch is yelling at me. My biyatch is warning me. My biyatch is threatening me. As my old Nan would say, ‘What a fucking liberty!’ (Incidentally, Nan isn’t really my Nan. She’s an immensely popular and beloved character created by Catherine Tate.)

The screenshot is from a legally downloaded video file from an episode of ‘According to Jim’. It was downloaded legally through a free p2p betwork. It’s legal because it was recorded legally and shared legally. P2p is legal and sharing what one owns is legal.

The idle threat my biyatch makes, ‘ even without monetary gain’ is just that: an idle threat. It has no teeth, no matter if it’s in all caps and has an exclamation mark. It means nothing at least not where I live. As far as I know, there are no laws on the books stipulating ‘ even without monetary gain’.

My biyatch needs to save that attitude for the real pirates who copy and sell videos.

My biyatch tells me to ‘own’ the products. My biyatch sends me emails telling me to ‘Own it NOW’. My biyatch includes ads on my DVDs which tell me to ‘own’ whatever it is that’s being sold.

My biyatch’s websites also exclaim the same imperatives. As a former English teacher and a life-long native-speaker of English, I don’t need a dictionary to know what that means. I know what an imperative is: an order — or command — to do something. They order me to buy it or download it.

I comply. I buy their products. But their ads don’t say I must purchase a download from them. So again, I comply with the command and download them, using free p2p software, from people who have purchased a film, people who ‘own’ the physical DVD I can’t assume they stole the DVD from a store, or merely rented it. I must assume they purchased it legally. And as the legal owner of the physical disc, they have the legal right to share it with whatever means they choose.

Concerning ’so-called’ copyright infringement, I quote Judge Judy Sheindlin: ‘Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining.”

Copyright law is out of date and out of touch with the real world. Intellectual property? Give me a break.

With ownership of physical ‘tangible property’ comes certain inalienable rights, including the right to do what one wishes with it, even if it included sharing it ‘without monetary gain.’ Reselling it would not be profitable, so it’s allowed. Sharing for no profit at all is also allowed.

After I’ve sampled a film I’ve downloaded, I sometimes decide to buy it. Not always, but sometimes. That’s because much of what LaLa Land produces isn’t worth the toilet paper I wipe my ass with. I do have close personal knowledge and experience with certain Hollydud writer-producers, so I know of what I speak.

Filesharers cannot be labeled pirates. I once again defer to Judge Judy’s wisdom: ‘If it doesn’t make sense, it’s not true.’

Filesharers share what they legally own. Remember, according to Longman’s, a gift is also something one owns. (On the other hand, a pirate might actually purchase a DVD or CD, but then turns around and sells copies to make a profit.)

They tell us to own it. Okay we’ll own it, in the form of legal purchases or legal gifts.

Computer, MP3 player, and PMP manufacturers continually offer us ways to save and share all of our movies and music. In the current economic depression, where exactly do they think these films and songs will come from And how are we supposed to share them? They don’t care. They’re not interested, as long as we buy their products.

Over the past decade I’ve bought hundreds of DVDs including some box sets. As a collector as many filesharers are my purchases have unfortunately been collecting dust. I might not ever watch some of them again, but like an avid book collector, I can’t let them go.

So what can one do with a collection whose only purpose is to sit on a shelf? The obvious thing is to find another use – share it so that others can enjoy, or learn, from what I own. Much of what I own isn’t available anymore, so sharing it makes sense. Dust collectors have no use.

And how does all this make the MPAA my biyatch? Because they don’t call the shots anymore. I do. WE do. We decide what we’ll buy and how much  we’ll pay for it.

I’ll decide if I want to share what I own. I’ll decide if my My biyatch wipes my ass for me now. And pays for the toilet paper, as well.

Make your biyatch do the same FOR YOU. Or else smack that biyatch up.

As Judge Judy would say, ‘I’m the boss, Applesauce.’

catflap – p2pnet

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

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This entry was posted on Saturday, August 1st, 2009 at 9:48 am and is filed under Freedom, P2P. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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