OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

well then, in the words of Gilda Radner's beloved chacter, Rosanna Rosanna Danna, "NEVER MIND"!

NOW you get it.

 

Anyway, here's my take on all of this:

 

After much thought, I decided that this situation with KO's is similar enough to to music piracy kick that my opinion on music piracy also applies to the KO's.

 

Here's my opinion: It is not stealing to download music off the internet. The money in your pocket is still yours, it's not the record company/artist's. Stealing implies that you've taken something from someone. The very nature of downloading is that the data is copied, ergo, something has been created, not taken. However, I do think that uploading music to be downloaded is stealing, as you're taking away part of their market with their own exact product. Competition is not stealing, as it is another product, even though they may be similar.

 

My same thoughts apply to KO's. Your money is still yours, not HasTakTomy's. You can buy whatever you wish and if you see a KO on the shelves you can buy it, that's why it was put out there. The same thing applies to stores buying the KO's, it only becomes stealing for them after they put it up for buying. The store and the manufacturer have stolen part of HasTakTomy's market with HasTakTomy's own product.

 

That's my stance.

back in my home country ko's are a dime a dozen, and the philippines is a 3rd world country... they got all kinds of ko's that exist primarily because our people can't afford the real thing, which would be considered a luxury for the wealthy... what i dont like is the ko's that are passed as the real thing on ebay as scams. /rant :tflol

I totally agree with KOs (even if the plastic is garbage). They make a great subsitute for the old G1 TFs. I can run over to Big Lots, buy a KO G1 Devastator, and have fun with it at home. They're okay, I believe it's fine to own a couple. I owned a couple of bots from Defensor.

Here's my opinion: It is not stealing to download music off the internet. The money in your pocket is still yours, it's not the record company/artist's. Stealing implies that you've taken something from someone. The very nature of downloading is that the data is copied, ergo, something has been created, not taken.

It is stealing in a form because the people who worked to produce and distribute that music - least of all the artists - are not receiving any money from you for accessing their work.

 

While I agree that record companies are seriously ripping people off with the prices of CDs etc., it is the individual recording artists and other employees in the recording companies who lose out from piracy and illegal downloads, and it's not their fault that the companies that they work for are greedy sods.

 

Having said that, I will download music if it is not licensed here nor readily available. I almost exclusively listen to animé songs and J-pop which isn't licensed for sale here nor is it readily available at music stores.

Here's my opinion: It is not stealing to download music off the internet. The money in your pocket is still yours, it's not the record company/artist's. Stealing implies that you've taken something from someone. The very nature of downloading is that the data is copied, ergo, something has been created, not taken.

It is stealing in a form because the people who worked to produce and distribute that music - least of all the artists - are not receiving any money from you for accessing their work.

 

While I agree that record companies are seriously ripping people off with the prices of CDs etc., it is the individual recording artists and other employees in the recording companies who lose out from piracy and illegal downloads, and it's not their fault that the companies that they work for are greedy sods.

 

Having said that, I will download music if it is not licensed here nor readily available. I almost exclusively listen to animé songs and J-pop which isn't licensed for sale here nor is it readily available at music stores.

 

music artists, unless independent, make almost no money from album sales at all. just so ya know. if you wanna support the artists go to the shows and buy the merchandise. thats all i'm gonna say, everybody should know my stance on piracy by now, and honestly, it's a discussion for another thread jmo.

I actually think it's quite relevant to this discussion, as the two situations are parallel. There's a reason why the music industry has been brought up in this thread before.

 

Here's my opinion: It is not stealing to download music off the internet. The money in your pocket is still yours, it's not the record company/artist's. Stealing implies that you've taken something from someone. The very nature of downloading is that the data is copied, ergo, something has been created, not taken.

It is stealing in a form because the people who worked to produce and distribute that music - least of all the artists - are not receiving any money from you for accessing their work.

 

While I agree that record companies are seriously ripping people off with the prices of CDs etc., it is the individual recording artists and other employees in the recording companies who lose out from piracy and illegal downloads, and it's not their fault that the companies that they work for are greedy sods.

 

Having said that, I will download music if it is not licensed here nor readily available. I almost exclusively listen to animé songs and J-pop which isn't licensed for sale here nor is it readily available at music stores.

 

I do not see it as a crime or an ethically questionable activity to buy things from stores including KO's. I think the same logic applies to downloading music. It's the distributor that's stealing, not the recipient. The only common difference between the two is that with KO's you fork over 2 or 3 bucks to the distributor (I say common because I've seen piracy websites that require you to pay for the things they've pirated. It's just not common to see that in my experience).

 

People can argue that you're supporting the distributor by giving them business, but I'm not the one protesting them. I'll let HasTakTomy/RIAA/MPAA take up their beef with them when they will.

 

I think that the RIAA and the MPAA suing people for "illegally" downloading licensed products is bullBlot for the reasons I've mentioned above. If anything they ought to be suing for facilitating the distributors to steal more things by giving them business (this unfortunately means also buying things the distributors made themselves). The parallel this is the guy in the get-away car. He didn't kill anyone in the building, but he's punished just the same. Accessory to murder.

 

That's the only grounds I can see for the RIAA and MPAA suing the downloaders/customers. With the precedence system in the US, if they succeed with suing people for that, buying from stores with KO's will be punishable in the exact same way. I object to them being able to sue for that reason until all KO's and copy cat products are removed from stores, because buying ANYTHING from stores that have those products is sue-able for the exact same reason.

 

I know, I got a bit redundant in the end, but I still stand by my point: It's not the downloaders/KO buyers that are stealing, but the people that upload the pirated booty/produce the KO's.

I actually think it's quite relevant to this discussion, as the two situations are parallel. There's a reason why the music industry has been brought up in this thread before.

 

no it's not. piracy groups don't make a dime off of the stuff they pirate, KO companies do. two VERY different things. those websites that charge for pirated material is going against the wishes of the piracy groups. pirates don't even want to make anything off their releases and more often than not the source has been legally purchased. KO companies are in it for the cahs and the cash alone.

I actually think it's quite relevant to this discussion, as the two situations are parallel. There's a reason why the music industry has been brought up in this thread before.

 

no it's not. piracy groups don't make a dime off of the stuff they pirate, KO companies do. two VERY different things. those websites that charge for pirated material is going against the wishes of the piracy groups. pirates don't even want to make anything off their releases and more often than not the source has been legally purchased. KO companies are in it for the cahs and the cash alone.

 

 

That's kind of my point, actually. People who produce KO's are worse than piracy groups, but it's a ridiculous notion to also punish people who buy KO's from Big Lots and other such stores because the items were put on the sales floor to be bought. By the same token, neither should the downloaders be punished, just the distributors.

 

But the money making aspect of one of the two situations doesn't change the heart of them. They're both IP and profit stealing at their roots.

fwiw, the distributors are the ones that are punished and prosecuted, but lets be honest here. can you say you know anybody that hasn't said to a friend or relative, "hey check out this new song, oh you want a copy, sure let me give it to ya"?