White Collar Dilemma

[Jrosemary]

I am head over heals in love with the show White Collar (season finale tonight--yay! Long wait till next season--boo!) This show has an active fandom on the internet, and some fans have posted ways to download episodes onto your computer. I think this is illegal, so I haven't done it. And I'm not planning on doing it.

But--well, let's say I was tempted. I fully intend to buy the DVDs of this first season the second they're available, even if I succombed to temptation and downloaded the eps. I want to support a show I love and I want to see the outtakes, interviews, etc. So if the show will make money off of me regardless, is it still a bad thing to download the eps?

Again, I think it's probably an illegal thing, which would stop me. But is it a bad thing?

[McCulloch]

There is an interesting dilemma here. While the industry would like to describe the illicit unpaid-for copying of copyrighted material theft, no one else looks at it that way. If I took your bicycle, you would have been deprived of the legitimate use of that bicycle. However, if I copied a song you sang, a video you made or an essay you wrote, you will still have the use of that which I had copied. So the feeling is that there is no harm done. So, we all feel justified taking without payment, the results of the creative work of other people who deserve to be paid for what they have done.

On the other hand, if it was something that they had already put into the public sphere, via broadcast, for anyone to receive without payment, can it be a moral wrong to make a copy for personal use on your PVR for timeshifting? Would it be a moral wrong to lend your copy to a friend who was not able to copy it herself? Would it be wrong to accept a payment, to cover expenses, of making and delivering the copy to her? What if you had a few friends? Or several thousand?

Do you see how the slippery slope of moral justification works?

[Jrosemary]

All good points, McCulloch--although I'm not trying to cheat the folks who make White Collar or the folks at USA Network. I'm going to buy the DVD's regardless, after all. And if they'd offer an official download that I could pay for, I'd do so!

Sigh. I'm not downloading the eps. Even though I really, really want to, lol. But I wish they would offer an official downloadable version for a fee. That would solve the whole problem. Meanwhile, I'm so glad the DVD's of this first season are coming soon!

[Goat]

I am head over heals in love with the show White Collar (season finale tonight--yay! Long wait till next season--boo!) This show has an active fandom on the internet, and some fans have posted ways to download episodes onto your computer. I think this is illegal, so I haven't done it. And I'm not planning on doing it.

But--well, let's say I was tempted. I fully intend to buy the DVDs of this first season the second they're available, even if I succombed to temptation and downloaded the eps. I want to support a show I love and I want to see the outtakes, interviews, etc. So if the show will make money off of me regardless, is it still a bad thing to download the eps?

Again, I think it's probably an illegal thing, which would stop me. But is it a bad thing?

Well, since you fully intend to buy the official DVD's once they are available, what do you think the producers of the show who are responsible for making money would think?

[Jrosemary]

Well, since you fully intend to buy the official DVD's once they are available, what do you think the producers of the show who are responsible for making money would think?

No idea. If I was one of the producers, I'd be fine with someone downloading the eps onto their computer if they also paid for the DVD's. Or, as I said above, why not just offer official downloads for a fee? (I'd pay it and still buy the DVD's--for this show, anyway. Granted, I'd only do this for a show I really love; the rest I just Netflix.)

Regardless, I'm still resisting the temptation to download the eps. Sigh.

[JoeyKnothead]

Enjoy your copy, and flick buggers on those that refuse to adapt to the new age of information.

[Jrosemary]

Enjoy your copy, and flick buggers on those that refuse to adapt to the new age of information.

I'm going to wait for the DVD's--I'm just going to keep kvetching while I'm waiting.

[Jrosemary]

Ahem. I, um, actually discovered, not too long after I posted this thread, that the episodes were available to buy online legally. My bad!

(I have now happily and legally downloaded them. And I still mean to buy the DVD's too!)

[Coyotero]

Enjoy your copy, and flick buggers on those that refuse to adapt to the new age of information.

Avast!

As an avowed digital pirate , I agree.

First off, you're fully within your rights to record said show on VHS or DVR. Why should downloading by means of .torrent or the like be dissimilar? I can assure you that the producers of the show are making plenty of money and well taken care of.

Which brings me to my second point. The motion picture/Television/music industry has capitalized for decades on the work of other people. When you buy a DVD at a hugely inflated price, most of the money you spend goes toward the merchant you buy it from (Which is only fair) The next biggest chunk of money goes to the corporate suits, and finally, a tiny portion goes to the actual artists and directors who's blood, sweat, and tears actually made the show.

The information age is changing the world. A wealth of information and art is now available to the public, and should be available to the public. It is interesting to me that many musicians support piracy, content to make their money from touring (Which is where most of their money is made.) I'm more than happy to pay for a live concert, or a CD when I know the money is going in the artist's pocket and not to some bloodsucking industry executive. Personally, I'd love to see a day when the industry comes crashing down and artists are once again made famous on their own artistic merit again.

If the industry was really concerned about piracy, they'd bring the prices of media down to a reasonable level for the average consumer. Instead they insist on raising the prices of media, and pursuing court cases against common citizens who just want to listen to some music or see a film, often demanding ridiculous, disproportionate, and unjust settlements over pirated media. I'd be happy to see the lot of them swabbing the deck.