EthicalFan - Latest Comments

Re: The Copyleft

Veryon — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 22:20:30 -0000

"What then is Mr. Barlow referring to when he says zero cost?"

If at all, ISPs profit the most from so-called "piracy". As you've seen in those incredible numbers, an extreme amount of data traffic stems from duplicated "intellectual property". If they lost those numbers, the ISPs would be in serious problems.

I have some projects going on (non-activist) regarding finding solutions to the new century's big Internet topics, but you'd understand that I won't share my identity here where the risk of getting associated with criminal intents is simply too high. ("Ethicalfan" basically screams "problems".)

I hope we won't see too big of an apocalypse once the revolution goes into the next phase, because our economy is really interwoven and I think it'd be damaging if all those old companies and corporations couldn't find the tempo to keep up with technological changes.

Sincerely.

Re: Torrent Freak: US BitTorrent Traffic Grows 40% from 2011 (Sandvine)

Veryon — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 22:11:25 -0000

It's harmful to progress, growth, creativity and much more if we have censorship and look at "piracy" as a criminal act. Furthermore, any criminal act must be understood in its motivations, and if you set the price for a loaf of bread at $1'000.-, you will get criminals. It is too late to try to set up an Internet police. People are already in a later phase of the revolution. It's inevitable.

Re: The Copyleft

thaicares — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 11:52:26 -0000

Wow I'm waiting for moderation so the one who thinks my ideas should be mine doesn't want them to exist in vicinity of his own :/ Ethics does not require government it is quite the opposite.

Re: The Copyleft

Simon Bellord — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 22:44:25 -0000

I've said this for ages, I don't mind buying a digital copy of something as long as the artists get something for it.

I'd rather have a physical thing, or be able to attend a concert.

All I want are 'Audiophile' quality files, I can appreciate as much as a CD or Vinyl Record.
Thanks for this perspective.

Re: EFF Agenda Theories

nevilleelder — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 10:57:22 -0000

The concept of recruiting uploaders to do the initial theft is pretty funny (in a tragic way). Is Hotfire the Fagin for the 21st century? http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

Re: EFF Agenda Theories

Adam — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 18:37:31 -0000

"in our opinion"?..."appear to be"?...aren't you being a little soft on these crims? They are masters at fraud and skirting around policies intended to keep them from doing what they are, IN FACT, doing. As an independant "content creator" that believes in our copyright system, I've loved your blog. We don't have to pussyfoot with these assholes anymore. Call them out for what they are: Thieves. :-)

Re: Calling All Lawyers! uTorrent Increases “Privacy” and Counters Mass-Monitoring of Downloads

David — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 04:18:10 -0000

There exists no feasible method for content owners to police a home video cassette recorder. There was no feasible method to prevent kids (I include myself) in the era of Cassettes from dubbing them. Here is how it worked for us kids in 1995: I bought the Metallica Black Album and my friend bought Ozzmosis, and we each had a stack of blank cassettes and a dual cassette deck. It took one hour to dub one hour of music. We borrowed each other's music like crazy. We could either trade tapes or listen to a very limited selection of music because we didn't have a ton of cash laying around to each buy our OWN copy of EVERYTHING. The record companies didn't lose revenue--when faced with the option of purchasing every album we ever heard or doing without, we did without. I think you'll find the same principal today.

Re: Torrent Freak: US BitTorrent Traffic Grows 40% from 2011 (Sandvine)

ethicalfan — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 20:04:57 -0000

http://documents.envisional...

Re: Torrent Freak: US BitTorrent Traffic Grows 40% from 2011 (Sandvine)

ethicalfan — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 13:40:39 -0000

Kickstarter is not a new "model". Kickstarter is regression to patronage - artists relying on charity. Copyright creates wealth for individuals and drives investment.

Re: Torrent Freak: US BitTorrent Traffic Grows 40% from 2011 (Sandvine)

Sam Flintlock — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 22:03:05 -0000

"On the music side, pro-piracy advocates are working hard to feature artists who don’t mind if their recordings are distributed for free. If you search the top torrents by distributors (seeders) you see that most of the top 10 on that list are “legal".

That's a positive thing, surely? And why the scare quotes around "legal"? It's binary. Things are either legal or not. It's not down to your personal opinion of the sites in question. You can argue that the sites are unethical or untrustworthy, but that isn't the same thing.

That said, I'm highly cynical about this development. It's my view this is a marketing ploy by the Pirate Bay, not something driven by any commitment to music or DIY culture. (Let alone digital snake oil salesmen like Kim Dotcom).

Part of the issue is that the sites in question have such prominence that many artists don't really get that there are other options. It's seen as a choice between this or selling your soul to the music industry.

And people like you have helped that situation. By failing to publicise alternatives to the old models (Kickstarter isn't even on your links list and they're obvious), you have contributed to that situation. Despite your opposition to the Pirate Bay, you have actively strengthened their hand on this matter.

Worse, you link to sites like Amazon without a word of criticism. (Apparently tax avoidance, union busting and appalling working conditions are ok with an "ethical fan"). Same with Spotify (who are, in collusion with the major labels to pay indie labels who aren't on Merlin far less money they they should be getting. But, of course, that's the major record labels screwing over musicians, so that's not your problem. Spotify also refuse to allow unsigned bands on their site, which is obviously in the interests of the labels).

As an ethical fan, why don't you do an investigation into the claims that Sony are using sweatshops?

To counter the current publicity stunt by the pirate sites, we need to do more than going "piracy is bad" and telling people to trust the system that has screwed over so many musicians. (Some of whom are personal friends of mine). We need to push for a genuine alternative to both. More ethical. More credible. More utopian.

Re: What To Do

Zach Howe — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 20:35:14 -0000

"Email journalists who write highly biased and inaccurate articles about your industry."

Like you...

Re: Wozniak, Megaupload and Kim Dotcom

Zach Howe — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 20:26:52 -0000

"But we feel that his statements and photograph with Kim Dotcom really illustrate the blind spot that many skilled and ethical technologists have regarding the rights of creative people and the preventable harm that some internet technology is doing to them."

If we want to talk about blind spots lets talk about how infeasible request to filter content automatically. Not to mention the censorship implications this would have. You guys love free speech, I get that. Problem is, you're willing to sacrifice it to save your personal pocketbooks. You should call yourself the "un-ethical fan" in that case.

Re: Torrent Freak: US BitTorrent Traffic Grows 40% from 2011 (Sandvine)

Zach Howe — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 20:20:31 -0000

"Pro-piracy advocates say that we just need to accept piracy and that artists need to get a new business model. This is false. The $400B US telecom industry needs to follow the law."

New business models need to happen. Piracy won't go away with any law. Stop misleading people into thinking otherwise. Piracy cannot be stopped. Sooner or later you will have to accept it.

Re: Torrent Freak: US BitTorrent Traffic Grows 40% from 2011 (Sandvine)

Stefan — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 05:36:25 -0000

Nice article on a terrible subject. Do you have a link to the envisional study by any chance?

Stefan

Re: Calling All Lawyers! uTorrent Increases “Privacy” and Counters Mass-Monitoring of Downloads

ethicalfan — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 04:21:16 -0000

It would be great if you would mention the reasons to randomize the peer-id other than avoiding law enforcement. It's been a feature of BitTorrent at least since 2006

Re: Calling All Lawyers! uTorrent Increases “Privacy” and Counters Mass-Monitoring of Downloads

Degnee @ Reddit — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 02:54:30 -0000

The feature for peer ID randomization is opt in. The end user has to enable it, and there are legitimate reasons as to why one might want to randomize their peer ID. It's not ALL about protecting the people who commit copyright infringement. You make this feature out to be bad, when it's not. And if you're going to run a blog, might be a smart idea to change up the categories. Looks unprofessional to have the default "uncategorized" category. Just saying.

Re: What To Do

SnarkyLibertarian — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 18:54:06 -0000

Try reading a book written by an actual economist; http://www.amazon.com/The-I....

As opposed to that shit you're 'recommending' on the side-bar.

Re: Legal Sites

DIDI — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 00:20:13 -0000

The amount of illegal stuff on the "legal" site Youtube is just staggering.

Re: Watch Pirate Movies and Play Games On Your TV for $99

Hunkey Dorey — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 20:48:37 -0000

The creative people should go on collective strike. That is now our only option; our last resort. We feed all the individuals that cash in millions on our backs...why? IF we would stop the supply, THEY would be out of THEIR "job" and THEIR "business" would be meaningless. Sadly no one will dare to participate, but sadder even is that this is meaningless as most pros will be forced to quit and many of them are quitting right now. It IS happening. It's like the Greenpeace folks say: "Only after the last......only then will you realize......." :-/