Comments about Artist’s Voice

The two days of silence I got myself involved into has reached their end.

Now I can talk:

1- I believe everybody’s(even thieves)  knows the situation is hurting creators, some times in very painfully ways. 

2- Why does it keep happening? As David Friedman says:  ”The economic approach to crime starts from one simple assumption: criminals are rational. A burglar burgles for the same reason I teach economics–because he finds it a more attractive profession than any other. The obvious conclusion is that the way to reduce burglary–whether as a legislator or a homeowner–is by raising the costs of the burglar’s profession or reducing its benefits.”

3- Customers and creators don’t have the tools to stop theft so, ultimately, responsibility falls on LL because they are our “government”. LL is rational (I hope ;-p), and what we need is to make the actual situation more expensive than fighting theft. That is what it makes so silly to try to show our strength, when it is obvious we don’t have it; we need to find realistic ways to reach our objectives, even if they are limited! At least that was a positive point of Artist’s Voice event, because it managed to do some noise about the matter.

4- And that is why so many bloggers (myself included) think it was pretty stupid to ask for two days of silence, when it was the right time for healthy discussion; and even if we want to weight the symbolic value of community’s silence, this made a farce of it (please, notice it is dated November’s 5).

Remember, just now creators can’t stop theft and, while I understand their frustration, I almost weep when customers are treated as wannabe criminals. It is like when I go to a film and they put one of those Piracy is a crime spots… WTF! I am obviously paying to see the film!

We need to stop paranoia from getting the best of us, try to find realistic solutions, and start showing some customer love.