You Go Grrrl - Confessions Of An Unrepentant Pirate

[JackSpratts]

Techsploitation: Why I Infringe
Annalee Newitz

I like to violate copyright everyday. Usually it's in some small way. I'll copy an Oingo Boingo CD for a friend, photocopy an interesting essay from an anthology, or maybe download an episode of Six Feet Under from a file-sharing network. Sometimes I go bigger, like when I bought a bunch of cracked software from a guy who was literally standing in a shady doorway, or when I bought a pirated DVD on the street in New York City (yes, it looked like shit when I played it).

I only steal from the rich. Once I copied a Mountain Goats CD, because I loved it so much and couldn't find it anywhere. As soon as I did, I bought that CD and about five more by the same band. That was a situation where I was sure the artist, who works through an independent label, would actually get my money. I don't have that same feeling about creators whose work is owned by giant media conglomerates. And frankly, I really don't care if Danny Elfman never sees the money he might have made if I hadn't copied that Oingo Boingo CD. He's rich enough as it is.

When I was a kid, I cried while reading Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, the dystopian novel about a future where books are illegal. I can remember big, hot tears rolling down my face during the scene in which the evil authorities are burning books. Bradbury describes each one as if it were human: Alice from Alice in Wonderland screams in agony; Shakespeare's characters weep as they are reduced to ash.

I know it's sentimental of me, but I think of creative works as if they were somehow human, as if they had lives of their own – many lives, playing out in strange, unknowable ways inside each mind that absorbs them. And when I see art and music and writing and movies and TV shows forbidden to me by draconian copyright laws, I don't think about legal documents full of tidy little justifications of property law. I see living beings in chains. I see Mickey Mouse, who has tried to escape again, burned by the lash. I hear Marilyn Monroe, imprisoned by her copyrighted image, howling to get free.

And I want to set her free. I want to see Marilyn running around in the open air, somersaulting in the grass, smiling and pirouetting for anyone who wants to watch her. I want people to invite her into their own imaginations and turn her into something else.

I've never been one for pussyfooting around when it comes to liberating what some corporation or mogul calls "private property." I don't really give a shit about capitalism. I think it's a scam. Rich guys who own everything trade stocks, and the rest of us, who own the vast majority of nothing, watch welfare wither away. If we make something beautiful and try to make a living by selling it, we can't own it. My beautiful thing will be the property of some company that has slapped a cover on it.

I'll leave it to Lawrence Lessig to explain how copyright limitations can nourish free trade and moneymaking. I'll let Declan McCullagh explain why there is no contradiction between capitalism and civil liberties for all. I don't care if my file-sharing cripples the economy. I want to rebel against the property holders, the people who took away our beautiful things and called them commodities. Until culture belongs to all of us equally, I will continue to infringe.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16511

[TankGirl]

Amen!

- tg

[multi]

I want to rebel against the property holders, the people who took away our beautiful things and called them commodities. Until culture belongs to all of us equally, I will continue to infringe.

that person has captured my thoughts so well...

i too see all creativity as belonging to us all...all works of art and culture as individual beings,that we all own...

who will copyright the sound of the wind howling,the leaves rustling...
or charge to watch that young child do a happy dance...
if it has any emotional connection to any human,will it always be food for the ever hungry rich..to feed on?

people of the internet,have seen since the mid-90's their medium,ripped to shreads..imo it was made for communication
,sharing -image- sound -verse...enriching the human psyche...with uncensored information
all gone as governments pump money in and try and control what ppl say and do
watch and listen....

the filesharing bit ..was just a rude wake up call...:
establishment you are losing control..

is it any surprise there is always someone with a new virus or worm...

ne way thx jack for that...quite inspiring

[multi]

this "why i steal"thread at slyck was interesting as well
in a sort of way..

[SA_Dave]

Originally posted by TankGirl
Amen!

- tg

The Church of TankGirl?

{P.S. Don't expect any monetary tithes from me! }