Nothing makes piracy right (i support you view aayush)

aayush:

[My thoughts on @chetan_bhagat and the whole #chetanblocks melodrama.]

As someone who was born and has lived his entire life in India, piracy has been a part and parcel of everyday life for me. From using a pirated copy of Windows and pirated games on the first PC I ever used to never having to purchase any song to listen to it and from renting shoddy pirated copies of Bollywood movies at a charge of Rs. 10 per day to downloading all sorts of pirated content off the Internet, I’ve done it all. And there was a time when I had no idea that you were actually expected to pay for this stuff.

But then I grew up. And I learned the concept of intellectual property and how software, movies, songs and books were all supposed to be bought for real money. I found out that they weren’t actually free. This knowledge didn’t prevent me from pirating said content but it sure made me realise that what I was doing was wrong. And it made me feel guilty.

Once I started writing for Macworld and had a relatively steady stream of income, I made a conscious decision to eliminate piracy from my life as much as possible. And, for the most part, I did. There are still some things where I have to resort to piracy in order to acquire them but not for a second have I ever thought that what I’m doing is right. I know that piracy is wrong and, just as the addition of Macworld to my life helped me stop pirating certain things, I intend to completely stop doing it in future when I earn enough to be able to do so.

Until then, I have to live with the guilt that I’m doing something amoral. But, thankfully enough, I at least have no qualms in admitting that to myself and others. There are some people, on the other hand, who actually seem to think that there’s nothing wrong with indulging in piracy. Their logic is that if something is too expensive for you to be able to afford it, it gives you the right to pirate it.

Now read that last sentence with the word “steal” substituted for “pirate”. When taken out of context, it sounds ridiculous, right? If you own an apparel retail store, would you stand for the logic that customers who think that the clothes you sell are too expensive have the right to pick them off the shelf and walk away without paying for them?

“Oh, but that’s blatant thievery,” you exclaim. Well, my dear friend, so is piracy. If you transferred a song off your friend’s phone over to yours, you just stole something. And if he hadn’t purchased it legally, either offline or online, then he is a thief as well. Would you steal a Honda City if you didn’t have the money to purchase it? More importantly, do you think it’s justified that you should be allowed to do so?

If not, why shouldn’t the same apply for intangible items that, although you cannot touch them in the physical world, require similar amounts of labour and money in order to be made and brought to you?

So, what prompted me to publish this tirade today? It was a series of tweets by popular Indian author Chetan Bhagat and the astonishing replies to them that pushed the proverbial button. Here’s what Mr. Chetan tweeted:

almost anyone who is reading my pirated books can afford the original. It hurts me a lot personally. Just sharing.

Piracy kills publishers, esp domestic literature. Gives incentive writers to move westwards. Don’t do it if you care for Indian creativity.

At a broader level, a society that doesn’t respect intellectual property never excels at innovation. See what kind of India u want.

And these were some of the replies posted by others on Twitter:

“Don’t blame the consumer. If he/she gets the product at a fifth of its cost, they have every right to pick it up..” -Joji Philip (@jojiphilip)

“…..I wonder if u wud said the same thing had  you been not a writer or had ur books not been pirated…….” -Saswat Das (@saswatdas)

“thats your take now!! but did you d/l any ebook/software/music illegally when u were at ii{t,m} ?” -Abhishek Kumar (@abhishek_akj)

“Tying everything to India’s progress today, aren’t we?” -Fly You Fools Comics (@flyyoufools)

“Piracy happens only when there is huge gap between d market cost & buying it otherwise. Greedy publishers plz note!” -Joji Philip (@jojiphilip)

“respecting intellectual property and piracy are very different issues.. infact in most cases piracy is the only solution” -Shrinath Navghane (@MrShri)

“There is a nexus between cops, illegal printers & publishers who r responsible for piracy.Attack d system,not the consumer!” -Joji Philip (@jojiphilip)

“No, i don’t steal cars, but if someone was offering me one for Rs 1000, i wud buy it. blame the guy who is offering me this” -Joji Philip (@jojiphilip)

“as a consumer i have done no wrong-i’ve paid the guy on the street corner my hard earned Rs 100 & i did not steal it from him” -Joji Philip (@jojiphilip)

“Get real or get lost.” -Ashok Banker (@ashokbanker)

See what I mean? These tweets do not offer the defence, “I’m sorry, I am a student and I wish I could purchase these things but I just do not have the money to do it right now.” (Partly because that’s a really shitty defense for pirating books that have a retail price as low as Rs. 99.) No, their defense is, “There’s nothing wrong with piracy. I have every right to spend as little for something as I possible can, irrespective of whether what I’m purchasing was stolen or not.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these people were real-life criminals as well. And yes, Mr. Joji, purchasing a stolen car for Rs. 10,000 makes you just as much a criminal as the thief who sold it to you. If you disagree with that, you have a very poor understanding of the law. Either that or you just choose to overlook it because, hey, as long as it saves you money, you’ll do anything you have to, right?

Here’s the thing: I’m not one of the greatest fans of Chetan Bhagat’s books. They fall in the category of beginner fiction and I think that I have outgrown it. But when I wanted to read Five Point Someone, I went out and bought myself an original copy at full price. And I then did it again for One Night @ the Call Center. And for all the Harry Potter books and for every other book I own.

If your financial situation allows you, please stop doing piracy and supporting piracy. If not, at least have the cojones to admit that what you’re doing is wrong. Stop giving lame-ass arguments to support your stupid viewpoint. It’s like they say, “Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt”.

-Aayush