Comments on: Encouraging sharing without getting all lawyery http://reganmian.net/blog/2009/08/27/encouraging-sharing-without-getting-all-lawyery/ Just another WordPress weblog Sun, 13 May 2012 01:00:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Leigh Blackall http://reganmian.net/blog/2009/08/27/encouraging-sharing-without-getting-all-lawyery/comment-page-1/#comment-2338 Leigh Blackall Fri, 28 Aug 2009 04:21:03 +0000 http://reganmian.net/blog/?p=377#comment-2338 Bang on! Especially the update. We are so swamped in copyright thinking that it is another interesting exercise to try and talk about all this without even mentioning copyright. For me so far, it is about elevating the topic to the realm of morals, ethics and principles.. and saying "we don't need a legal framework to help us with that, it is inbuilt if we just let go for long enough".. Its impractical in this material world, I know.. and it makes me sad to realise that taking, giving and sharing has become possible for many of us, only by way of a legal hack. I visited Malaysia a while back.. bought a stack of pirate DVDs. It amazed me the sophistication of the selling, which considering the legal risk they take on (having to hide their shops and even acknowledge their business as "crime"), and the relative cost of the products I was buying.. it IS a form of giving. Sure they are making money, that's ok.. all that is is me giving them a little in return for their time and materials. I would just as sooner by the DVDs from the original creators if they were only willing to compete with the reduced cost set by the copiers, but they're not! They charge stupid amounts - encouraging me to want cheaper versions.. which we get when visiting Malaysia, or a Bit Torrent download. I'd really like to spend some time looking at the real use, reuse, give, take, copy, share, buy, sell and remix of cultural products free of legal regulations for a bit. If we did ignore the regulations for just a little while, we might come to see a fresh new way of considering the economics of it all, and discover sound new business models, and rediscover our humanity for each other. Bang on! Especially the update. We are so swamped in copyright thinking that it is another interesting exercise to try and talk about all this without even mentioning copyright. For me so far, it is about elevating the topic to the realm of morals, ethics and principles.. and saying “we don’t need a legal framework to help us with that, it is inbuilt if we just let go for long enough”.. Its impractical in this material world, I know.. and it makes me sad to realise that taking, giving and sharing has become possible for many of us, only by way of a legal hack.

I visited Malaysia a while back.. bought a stack of pirate DVDs. It amazed me the sophistication of the selling, which considering the legal risk they take on (having to hide their shops and even acknowledge their business as “crime”), and the relative cost of the products I was buying.. it IS a form of giving. Sure they are making money, that’s ok.. all that is is me giving them a little in return for their time and materials.

I would just as sooner by the DVDs from the original creators if they were only willing to compete with the reduced cost set by the copiers, but they’re not! They charge stupid amounts – encouraging me to want cheaper versions.. which we get when visiting Malaysia, or a Bit Torrent download.

I’d really like to spend some time looking at the real use, reuse, give, take, copy, share, buy, sell and remix of cultural products free of legal regulations for a bit. If we did ignore the regulations for just a little while, we might come to see a fresh new way of considering the economics of it all, and discover sound new business models, and rediscover our humanity for each other.

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