The word pirate here refers to digital media pirates, not the sword swinging, parrot on shoulder kind of pirates or the modern ones with AK-47, grenade launcher, ship hijacking pirates. They don’t go ‘arrrr’ at each sentence when they speak either.

I am referring to people who download digital media, you know movies, TV shows, music, etc. Your typical Internet/computer users.

Here is a simple logic of why pirates are not thief. Theft removes the original. They snatch things or money. Piracy on the other hand makes a copy of the original.

All these public service adverts with some washout artist or actor, looking either sad or angry, are talking about how piracy is equivalent to stealing.

They would ask question like “Would you steal a car?”, “Would you steal money from people?”

If I could answer them I would have said, “No, I would not steal a car. No, I would not steal money from people. However if I could make exact copies of the car and the money, I sure as hell would do it.”

The entertainment industry should look at this in a different way. The Internet, the peer-to-peer networks especially bittorrent makes a really good distribution method.

Your fans make copies of your work for other people which could potentially become your next big fan. Your work has the potential to reach more audience. If your are really good more people will come to your shows and support you.

Think about it.

Please note that I am talking about downloading and distributing through peer-to-peer networks not those people who sell CDs and DVDs on the streets. They are scumbags. You don’t make money of people’s work. That is just wrong.