Regardless of what you might think of their politics, and I agree that they’re reprehensible, their artistic creations are not created for free, they’re not slaves and they’re entitled to the profits from their work. The internet is a wonderful thing, but one aspect that’s just stupid is that so many seem to think that content should be completely “free.” Anyone with an IQ sufficient to remember to breathe knows that nothing is truly “free.”
Hey I like arm waving and mindless blanket statements as much as the next guy but every once in a while we need to return to the Planet Earth and see how reality's been doing in our absence. The fact is that most artists just create and struggle to get their work out, and most copyright battles are done by and for the benifit of lawyers and the businesses that pay them.
[Yuck, you're right --too much seriousness is a drag] OK, I'm better than everyone because I believe in GOODNESS!!!
ahhhh....
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“The internet is a wonderful thing, but one aspect that’s just stupid is that so many seem to think that content should be completely “free.””
Well, for all intents and purposes, it is free. We can argue whether it should be free or not, but the fact remains that nearly any content that people are trying to sell for money can probably be had for free with a few button clicks.
At some point we are going to have to acknowledge the reality that once the ability to replicate any kind of data for little to no cost is put in the hands of everyone, the data itself precipitously declines in value. This is basic economics; no scarcity = no value.