This is more of a discussion starter, but I'm curious about how people feel about copyright laws and the internet. I make my living with copyrighted material, but until recently my work (children's books) had never been pirated or bootlegged. However, I recently saw my graphic novels available as a free download and I got very angry.
Happily, I ma not a hypocrite. I can honestly say that I have only once downloaded an album for free. It was something I had been waiting for a long time for, and I was really excited for it. However, when it came out officially, I bought a CD. I also have never watched a downloaded movie, except for 20 minutes of Iron Man that was playing in a classroom at the high school I was teaching in on the last day of school.
I am very disturbed by this recent trend that some people think that entertainment is a right, and not something to be paid for.
Another thing that is bothering me are the other flagrant violations of copyright that I am seeing every day. On Rebelscum, they had an article and link to a guy on Kickstarter who was raising money to make Star Wars infant clothes. He didn't have a license. Why should he get to sell his Star Wars stuff without paying Lucasfilm, when someone like Asley Eckstien is paying a license for her Star Wars product. And please don't tell me that the Kickstarter guy "isn't making a lot"...that's not the issue.
Thoughts?