Andy Jarrett: I wouldn't steal a car but I do download movies

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I wouldn't steal a car but I do download movies

iwouldntsteal.net is a site set up to counter act the propagandamessage from media company's that downloading a movie is that same as stealing a car, handbag, or even shoplifting.

The Greens|European Free Aliance is a European parliamentary group made up of Greens and representatives of stateless nations ("regionalists"). Their argument is that sharing movies online does not equate to stealing and instead of spending money on adapting laws why not look into viable legal alternatives!

The problem that the movie industry has is that it is run by people who do not understand current technology/trends and while they were counting their money technology past them by. People are downloading now and always have been, the question these company's should be asking themselves is not "how to stop it" but "how to make it work for us?"

To protest against the faulty propaganda from the industry, we[ The Greens|European Free Aliance] made our own film. The difference is – you can choose whether you want to watch this on

Find out more at http://iwouldntsteal.net/

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Posted By Steve Bryant @ 1/21/08 1:00 PM

With all due respect, I think that is unfair.

Somebody spent a lot of time and money making a movie. They decided they don't want to give it away and that should be *their* right. If you don't want to pay to watch the movie, don't watch the movie (or wait until it is legally available by some other means).

If the complaint is method of delivery, sign up for Netflix to download them.

Calling it "sharing" makes it seem nice, but I don't think most people would be happy if others started to "share" their work against their will.

Posted By Not Critter @ 1/21/08 1:03 PM

I would totally do /all/ of those things. Except steal movies. I gotta draw the line somewhere.

Posted By rob @ 1/21/08 1:52 PM

Copyright infringement isn't law abiding, and it's not something I support, but it is not stealing either. If I steal your car, you no longer have a car. If I steal your purse, you no longer have a purse. If I download a movie, no one's physical property has been taken - no physical property has been transfered from one party to another. In fact, no addition cost has been incurred (physical media, etc) by any one. The only damage to a movie / software makers is a theoretical loss of revenue (making the assumption that the downloader would have bought it in some other condition).

I think you should show respect to people who produce content, and respect their wishes, but again it's not "stealing".

The first time I saw this ad I laughed out loud at how ridiculously illogical it was.

Posted By rob @ 1/21/08 1:55 PM

(not "this ad" the original ad that this one is making fun of - sorry about that)

Posted By Indeed @ 1/21/08 3:29 PM

The great thing about people is we can rationalize anything!

Posted By Antony @ 1/22/08 8:31 PM

If you've ever seen the IT Crowd (BBC TV series) you'll never take those adds seriously.

They do a great parody: you wouldn't steal a car, you wouldn't steal a handbag, you wouldn't steal a baby, you wouldn't shoot a policeman, and take a dump in his helmet, and post it to his widow, and you wouldn't steal it from her...

Posted By Richard Brennan @ 4/6/08 7:45 AM

I never understand why these adverts are put on legally bought DVD's. Surely people who buy the DVD's are not the target audience!

I bought a boxset last week of six DVD's. The ad's were on every DVD.

Posted By Freman @ 6/10/08 2:45 PM

I don't so much disagree with illegal copying of movies (commonly mislabeled piracy - but face it, do you see any swords?) is 'fair' or 'not fair'

I do disagree with being treated like a moron for actually forking over (up to) $100 for a movie or a boxed set of tv series and being forced to listen/watch anti-piracy messages knowing full well that if I'd pirated the movie/boxed set that I wouldn't have to watch the crap.

Having said that - I do download movies. Why? Well, to see them. I download the movies I wouldn't normally consider buying - or am only partially interested in seeing. So really no profit loss to the big corps is there. But wait - there's a hidden bonus here. Sometimes I download a movie I think is going to be crap and not worth the effort, and it turns out it actually is - and I go buy it!

So hang on, it not only isn't part of the millions of 'lost' revenew that the industry claims 'piracy' costs it but it actually is profit because someone might be convinced to buy a film they otherwise wouldn't have?

OMG, what a thought.

Games have been doing it for a while, release a demo - and those who were only partially interested may be convinced to buy it as opposed to copy it. I see downloading movies as a form of demoing - face it the quality of most early release downloads is crap.

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