Illegal Downloads: Scott Hinkley

This issue of illegal downloads is a difficult one for me, since I make my living in the entertainment industry. I have struggled with my feelings on this mostly because the notion of theft has until recently implied that the product is missing from the place it was stolen from, which isn't the case with digital duplication. Intellectual rights to intangible information is still in it's infancy in relation to the technology available for infringement on those rights. For my own best personal monetary interests, people should have to pay for all of their media content, but as a media consumer, I think it is much nicer to be able to expose myself to media before I am forced to purchase it. I think that the best way to make people pay for something, is make them feel it is worth the money.

I also don't really see how businesses should be expected to police the internet activity of their staff on behalf of a third party's IP interests. I don't have any problem with a company placing restrictions on it's internet services, since it is the one footing the bill, but it isn't their responsibility to audit the content beyond their own internal concerns. Now if that company was doing business with a major media producer, they might be inclined to be more diligent about stopping illegal download which threaten their client's bottom-line, but that is their own decision.

I appreciate that media companies are frustrated about the proliferation of their property, but I don't think shaming people and trying to create a network of NARCs is going to do anything to strengthen their credibility. And their credibility is at the heart of the matter. People don't feel bad stealing from people they don't respect, and the behavior of the entertainment industry when they had all the power and control over their product is coming back to bite them now. If people respected the creator of the media, they would not be as bold to steal their products. And I don't think putting a working-man face to the industry is the answer, just wiping the Sh*teating grin off the executives would be a good start

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