Comments on: Available Online for Free

By: Jeremy Sapienza

Jeremy Sapienza — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 01:13:53 +0000

Nick covered most of what my response would have been, but my only remaining quibble — and here is where I would bring in politics — is that illegally downloading a film does not clash with the economic system, but the political system. The state designates a given transaction to be legal or illegal. That it may do so at the behest of a corporation is irrelevant.

The point is that politics and economics are two different things.

By: Nick Riggle

Nick Riggle — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:01:33 +0000

Artie,

I share Jeremy’s view, so here’s a defense of it. I take it that Jeremy’s point is that no “political” concepts feature in his intention, which would seem to be necessary for his action to be “political” in any sense. That an action has political *consequences* doesn’t suffice to make the action “political”. Think how implausible the underlying principle is: If an action has x-consequences, then it is an x-action.

This is to say that it’s wrong to think that his action is “inherently political,” whatever that means. It’s only political if he has a certain intent in doing it; that he lacks such intent is compatible with the action’s having political consequences. What’s the point in calling his action “political” no matter what he intends? If you just mean that the action has political consequences then it’s certainly misleading.

By: Artie Vierkant

Artie Vierkant — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 01:19:09 +0000

While I respect your concern that the term ‘political’ is easily misattributed or overused, the decision to download a film illegally is inherently a decision to support a distribution platform which clashes directly against the established norms of the current economic system. No matter what you download it doesn’t matter what your intent was in procuring it, it’s still an intrinsically political action which funnels into the debate about intellectual property policy.

By: Facebook User

Facebook User — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:48:40 +0000

Speaking of appropriation, I can’t stand the gratuitous mislabeling of every action that can possibly be taken by a human being as “political.” If I download Avatar, which I assure you I will not for reasons other than concern for IP, this is not because I’m sticking it to The Man. It’s because I want free shit.

Where this discussion may turn political is in determining whether intellectual “property” is property at all, or simply a grab at other people’s property under color of respect for property rights.