"CD’s affected by the Sony-BMG spyware



Posted Nov 15, 2005 04:57 PM PST on whatreallyhappened.com
Category: COMPUTERS/SECURITY


Needless to say I have received the usual batch of hate-emails from music pirates intent on not having to feel guilty about what they do and certainly not wishing to be seen as the ultimate cause of all this nonsense. Rather than waste a lot of space on the reader's letters page to what are essentially the same arguments over and over, here are the answers.

1. Hacking into computers to steal music is just as wrong as music companies hacking into computers to prevent it. Both are wrong, but keep in mind who acted first.

2. Music companies don't automatically make vast sums of money for music CDs. The retailers take most of it, taxes take the next biggest chunk.

3. Until you yourself actually produce and market a music CD or a DVD, you don't know what you are talking about when you spout off about how the music companies ought to behave.

4. The music companies are not crooks. The music pirates are the crooks."


***Response starts here:***

Dear WRH,

Sorry about the incomplete message I sent earlier, there must have been some spyware on my computer that I didn't know about, and it seems to have caused me to submit my message prematurely.

Here is my response to your "comments" that appear under the article summary.

1. Who's "hacking"? As I understand it, P2P, or a torrent needs tacit approval from each user that wants to "share" their music/movies/books. How is this different than the public library, a book loan to my friend, or letting my mom borrow a cd? If I go to the library and "borrow" a Stephen King novel...how does Stephen King make any money off of that? Can I not "loan" a dvd to my family, or a book to a co-worker?

2. If music companies didn't make money off of music distribution...they would be in an entirely different business altogether.

3. I have "produced" music and movies. I am an actor/writer/musician with over 30 movies under my belt, and I engineer/produce music and have made money writing screenplays. I do it because I love to make art, and if I had a choice between never letting my stuff be seen or heard, and starving to death because I couldn't make money off of it....well, I'm pretty hungry these days. Producers consistently profit off of artists with no conscience. Look at the latest Screen Actor's Guild statements regarding internet/dvd profit sharing, and how unfair producers have always been when it comes to paying actors for the exploitation of their efforts.

4. Both music companies and pirates are crooks. Imagine if books were monitered and tracked like downloaded music is. Not everyone can afford a copy of "1984" or "Watership Down". So is it fair that the economically strong are the only ones "allowed" to read such material? Stealing anything is wrong. It just depends on what you consider "stealing". How come songs listened to on the radio and movies shown on broadcast television are "free"? Oh, that's right, there are corporations advertising their products and services and your "cost" is a listen to or a look at their commercials.

No wonder there is so much crappy music on the radio.

No wonder movies suck these days.

Greed.

Not there's anything wrong with that.

I believe everyone, man, woman and child, has the right to see, hear and feel art that was specifically created to be shared. Just like your website. Wouldn't it be cruel if the Katrina victims were thrown in jail because they were trying to learn the truth, yet they couldn't afford an internet connection, so they had to read it off of an illegally printed hard copy of your content? Don't you think we have the basic human right to hear each other's stories, and learn from each others life experiences?

Respectfully yours,

Keith Coogan
S.A.G./A.F.T.R.A. member since 1976.

P.S. Keep up the good work. Instead of watching CBS/NBC/ABC/CNN/FOXNEWS, I faithfully read WRH, RENSE and DRUDGEREPORT on a daily basis, but not necessarily in that order.

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