Harmless enough?
I was on Facebook classifieds this morning, when I saw someone in search of a Disney's Little Mermaid DVD. Another person replied that she had one, and would burn a copy of it for free. Then other people wanted her to burn a copy, offering to pay her to do it, and she was more than willing to burn copies for everyone. I didn't make myself very well liked when I replied that I didn't think she should be posting that she is willing to do something illegal, especially in a public forum. She stated that she was willing to burn copies for free, and that wasn't illegal. But according to Federal copyright laws, copying and distribution of copyright protected dvds is illegal, and you can be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
On the basest level here of reasons not to copy dvds, it isn't smart to announce you are willing to violate laws, even if it is a gesture of good will. Let's look a little deeper into why this isn't okay.
One might think that a couple of copied DVDs isn't going to hurt Disney. They are a multi billion dollar corporation and it isn't going to hurt them. Yes and no. While one or two won't hurt them in the long run, if you get thousands of people burning one or two, yes, it can make a financial impact. It will add up over time, and we have seen that it ripping and illegally downloading has hurt the music industry.
But deeper than this, let's say that it wasn't Disney. Let's say it was an individual artist, like myself. Let's say that I made a beautiful painting, and had prints made, and I sold one for $25.00. The person I sold it to, showed it to her friend, who loved it. The buyer then said, "Oh if you like it so much, I can scan it and make a print for you." Then she did that for four more friends. What does that mean for me? I lost $100 in sales, and the buyer STOLE my art! Just because the buyer owns a piece of art, it does not give her the right to reproduce it. She cost me four sales.
It doesn't matter if the business is large or small, the matter is bigger than a $20 or $200 sale. It's a matter of stealing something that isn't yours. Nobody likes to be ripped off. I have been stolen from (personal property) in the past, and it leaves you with a feeling like you have been raped, you lose your trust for others, and you don't want to be victimized again.
I have seen posts lately about big companies ripping off individual artists, thinking that they can get away with it, possibly because they are big businesses with well-paid lawyers, and the individual artists don't have that backing. Shame on them! If you discover that a business is stealing from another business, do you really want to buy something that is stolen? I don't, because if you know and you do it anyway, that makes YOU guilty, too!
I will leave you with the words of Jesus, when he said, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." Treat others like you would want to be treated. That's what it all boils down to.
On the basest level here of reasons not to copy dvds, it isn't smart to announce you are willing to violate laws, even if it is a gesture of good will. Let's look a little deeper into why this isn't okay.
One might think that a couple of copied DVDs isn't going to hurt Disney. They are a multi billion dollar corporation and it isn't going to hurt them. Yes and no. While one or two won't hurt them in the long run, if you get thousands of people burning one or two, yes, it can make a financial impact. It will add up over time, and we have seen that it ripping and illegally downloading has hurt the music industry.
But deeper than this, let's say that it wasn't Disney. Let's say it was an individual artist, like myself. Let's say that I made a beautiful painting, and had prints made, and I sold one for $25.00. The person I sold it to, showed it to her friend, who loved it. The buyer then said, "Oh if you like it so much, I can scan it and make a print for you." Then she did that for four more friends. What does that mean for me? I lost $100 in sales, and the buyer STOLE my art! Just because the buyer owns a piece of art, it does not give her the right to reproduce it. She cost me four sales.
It doesn't matter if the business is large or small, the matter is bigger than a $20 or $200 sale. It's a matter of stealing something that isn't yours. Nobody likes to be ripped off. I have been stolen from (personal property) in the past, and it leaves you with a feeling like you have been raped, you lose your trust for others, and you don't want to be victimized again.
I have seen posts lately about big companies ripping off individual artists, thinking that they can get away with it, possibly because they are big businesses with well-paid lawyers, and the individual artists don't have that backing. Shame on them! If you discover that a business is stealing from another business, do you really want to buy something that is stolen? I don't, because if you know and you do it anyway, that makes YOU guilty, too!
I will leave you with the words of Jesus, when he said, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." Treat others like you would want to be treated. That's what it all boils down to.
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