"Cam" movie pirate issued record 5-year prison sentence

Think about that for a second... 'you're making the rich, richer.' Do you think the execs at the record companies are going to take a pay cut because music sales are down? Or do you think the artists who are selling only a few thousand records get the shaft because their contract says they get 20% of sales. You've heard the expression 'sh!t rolls downhill'? It works for econ as well as punishment.
When an organization needs more money it gets sucked out of the organization from the bottom up. At the bottom are the customers, so the first thing that happens is prices go up, but that's not usually an option because customers will leave. So the next thing that'll happen is benefit cuts and hiring freezes on the cheap labor. (here's a real example: I have a good friend is a nurse's assistant in a hospital. She received a letter from the CEO last week stating that tuition reimbursement will be cancelled in 2014 because of the medicare cuts via Obamacare).

You can go on believing you're stealing from the rich (which is still wrong), but the fact is, you're not stealing from the guy IN the gulfstream, you're stealing from the guy who shovels the snow off the runway.

What does it matter if someone was willing to pay for a movie in the box office. The fact is that they commited a crime, period. All the justification in the world does not change the fact that they willingly broke the Law. Lending a friend a DVD is simply transfering viewer rights. What they did was a complicated and very elaborate operation. This goes far and beyond simple downloading a movie or music. They had sound synchers and editors. Who cares if the rich get richer. It was thier money that funded the project to make them money. I swear, the level of stupid justification is almost as bad as the level of moral decay. Just because you CAN do something, doesnt mean you SHOULD!!! When you sit down and youre going to download something and you know it is illegal, ask yourself a simple question. How would your Grandmother look at you if she knew you were nothing more then a common thief.

Valid point as it may be, it is also a argument for the stealing of media too, because in the end, why would people want to buy something if most of the purchase isnt going towards the artist?

@Ike
Is it anyone elses business besides the ppl who are selling it where the money goes?
They all sign a contract. The contracts themselves are put together by lawyers. Are ppl going to now start stealing from the lawyers that drafted the contracts for the execs and artists? Its all craptastic justification for common theft. We live in a society of Laws. By simply existing in the US you are bound by those laws. There is a price to pay when you break the law. Continuing to break a law doesnt make it go away. If you want change, get out there and fight to have media laws passed that allow for downloading w/o penalties. Continuing to do as the ppl in the article have done and keep stealing and its only going to get worse for the little guy. And thats you.

Never said I stole anything
Honestly spotify and netflix pretty much satisfy my needs.
But if you wish to keep overspending on songs and albums to satisfy the greedy upper level management and raising their pay while the lower mans pay stays the same (its as people in this thread have been saying to me) then all means do so.

But isn't that true of everyone who has to be,"the first kid on the block", to have just about anything? They're all paying R & D costs as well.

This crew that got locked up for cam pirating should absolutely get another nickel tacked on for consumer fraud.

Have you ever seen these garbage, "walk in a tape the movie DVDs"? The only way I'd pay anyone for one of them, is if I was dying of cancer, and probably wouldn't live until the official Blu-Ray release....!

People around my way walk around selling this crap. And people around here also buy it. But then, people around my way, are living testament to the complete and utter failure of both modern parenting skills, and the public school system.

Not saying you did Ike. Simply pointing out that no matter what this isnt going away. Yea Im sure you pay less for your product. Guess what, not everyone can. Some ppl barely have enough internet to be able to download AOL. Let alone using web based services. So those ppl end up having to pay what is asked. When the Internet becomes a standard like water and electricity then the masses who can order online who previously couldnt, will do so.

It's not that simple... some contracts may say the artist gets 20%, some may say the get 50% after recouping expenses. Some may say the label gets the first million then the artist gets everything after that... who knows. Although as far as I know, if you want the most money to go to the artist, go see them live.

Spotify and netflix work for me too... and we never even got into the quality of a pirated movie from a camera being held in a theater. Watching Avatar through a handheld cam isn't quite the same experience as actually being in the theater.

I never said upper mgmt was greedy and the low guy never gets a raise. I said cheap labor and small benefits are the first thing to get cut. It's easier to raise cafeteria prices a little than it is to dock someone's pay. Mgmt picks the cost savings measures that hurt people the least when they have to make changes. Anyone would prefer to pay an extra $.10 on their morning coffee than to see someone get laid off.
And when it gets bad enough that people do get their pay cut, then it matters much more to the little guy. If everyone takes a 10% cut, then the CEO loses $50,000 /year, while Bob in accounting only loses $4,000. But it's still harder on Bob, because he has far less disposable income.

My point wasn't that mgmt is greedy... it's just that when you steal from them, you steal from ALL of them. And the little guys need the money more than the execs.

@Mike
No matter how hard you try you will never reach them. It is a breakdown of moral values. They will continue to justify thier theft. All the preaching in the world will not change them. They have to realize thier mistakes themselves before they will change. It will always boil down to right and wrong. Yes there are shades of grey in some circumstances. But not in this case. For some it will take losing the ability to get internet. For others a wise word from a trusted friend will do the trick. They feel it is a "victimless" crime so they feel no guilt. They try and rationalize that the rich can afford for them to download X movie or song, that the rich have too much money. They are more Hood, Then Robin Hood. They only steal to benefit themselves. Just take solace in the fact that eventually they will be caught no matter what the fancy trick they use to disguise thier presence on the web. It takes an honest effort to remain truthful. They just choose to not be honest, so they deal with the consiquences.

One way that I feel movie studios could curb pirating to some degree, is be more flexible with digital copies and give higher quality digital copies that they include with DVD/Blu Ray releases. I recently purchased and movie with a digital copy and was appalled at the video quality.

On top of that, I became extremely aggravated when I was surprised with the fact that I could only save the digital copy to one device. I have a PC, tablet, and smartphone. However, I made the "mistake" of first copying it to my PC hard drive rather using the "option" that allows me to stream it through the Internet to any device using their app. Seems like the obvious choice for anyone, but I didn't know I would only be given one digital license. It wasn't clearly stated any where what the choices were.

This instantly sent me into rage mode, and made me want to pirate the movie out of spite, to stick it to those greedy bastards. If the digital copy were better and easier to use I would be perfectly happy to pay for it, but **** like this is partly what makes people pirate.

Look at Louis C. K., he sells every one of his stand up videos and audio cds for $5 each, and they are DRM free, and you can do what ever you want with them. He's made close to $2 million since first starting this a little over a year ago. And he's just one dude who caters to a much smaller audience than The Avengers. People are willing to pay for his material because he's not an *** about using it or getting it.

This isn't THE answer, but a small part to solve a bigger problem.

Whats immoral is charging a dollar for a song because you know you can get away with it, then whining that you arent making enough money when your song sells tens of millions of times.

If I could afford music, I would gladly pay for an offline copy. As it is I will continue to use spotify. and netflix.

And you are right, piracy is immoral. but honestly I wouldnt be left with any other choice if not for online content. If I ever make some extra money I will send a check directly to the memebers of any band I have listened alot to for all the times I heard it free on the internet.

Well they do have to pay for the other songs that didn't sell. lol

The argument pro or con, between pirating and buying, can go on ad infinitum...! (*)(see fine print below).

It that aspect it's similar to a religious discussion pro or con, as to the existence of a "supreme being". (Personally, and with all humility, I normally only credit myself the slightly less expansive powers of being a lowly, earth bound, "superb being")!

That notwithstanding, I think it's time to merge these debate topics, into one huge, unwinnable, argument.

Do you think Jesus would condone illegal copying or downloading of intellectual property belonging to someone else? I think not!

In fact it was years of arguing against prevailing human ethics and values, that put him on the cross in the first place.

Fast forward to the 21st century.........

Now, if the next movie FBI copyright warning I see, goes something like, "Jesus wouldn't want you to copy this movie, so don't do it, or you're going straight to hell"!

I'll know where they go the idea. And furthermore, now that the concept has been put forth in a physical and tangible manner, technically I hold the copyright. How do you like them apples Eves?

So that means, if that shows up in the next movie I see, I'm going to know where the "fibby" got it. And then, I'm coming after all your miserable a**es, with the most obnoxious copyright troll lawyer, I can dupe into thinking I actually have the funds to compensate for his effort.

(*)In fact, it actually has. The Roman Catholic Church has texts, and gives mass in Latin, for that very reason, to avoid illiterate peasants infringing. Meanwhile, the protestants think it was their idea to have their church services in their mother tongue, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt, "reverse psychology" does indeed, work like a charm.

And the reckless banking corporations got how long for breaking the world's economy? Nothing but golden handshakes.