Situational ethics?

> Do you really believe this is what people do?

Don't be silly. Netcops know there are folks with challenged ethics in the world. But when potential violators ask for help, I'm obliged to not help 'em.

> When you rent a movie, do you kick everyone out of your house that has not
> paid to rent that movie?

Nonsense. Private use, when you pay the rental, is precisely what is permitted by the contract you have with the place you rent it from. Charging folks at the door to see a rental is a commercial use that's prohibited. Copying the rental and giving one to everybody who comes to your house is a violation. As would be copying the rental and giving one to anybody who would have come to your house that night except they were busy or lived in another state.

See the issue? It's not your place to turn into a free rental store and destroy the business model of the one at the mall. Unless you have a Robin Hood complex. Rob from the rich and all that.

> What do you think is the very first thing a person does when they first
> purchase a DVD copier? (which are being sold at just about any electronics
> store in the USA.)

Unwrap it and read the contract? :-)

> My guess is they pop in a commercial DVD movie and try to copy it!

And if it's for a permitted use, like making a safety archival copy for personal use, they haven't become a copyright violator yet.

> And I guarantee you, I'm not wrong on this one!

Well, you're wrong in at least my case. I use my DVD burner for a cheap backup medium. 9.4GB per disk is a very dense and economical method for my backups.

> Don't get me wrong. I'm 100% against piracy, but there is absolutely no
> way that your good advice or anything else for that matter is going to
> stop people from wanting to make a spare copy of a dvd or cd to give to
> their friend or family member..

Spare copies for personal archival use - no problem. Giving it away to folks who might otherwise buy or rent one is piracy. Your 100% disapproval seems to have some holes. Or your world view doesn't see piracy where I do. As I said - it's all situational. Piracy isn't just the street vendors in Shanghai and Bangkok selling hand-held vidcam movies the day after the premier. Piracy is cutting the copyright holder out of their legitimate income, by blocking potential sales or rentals. Piracy is selling the original on Ebay after copying it for your bedroom DVD player.

> I make copies of ALL the DVD movies that I (legally) purchase, because I
> have a dvd player in my bedroom and I want an extra copy of the movie
> there too.

And that's allowed. You must have a big house if the home theatre is so far away from the bedroom that it's worth a couple of bucks per movie to have that flexibility, but that's actually none of my business and I don't pretend that it is. Carry on.

> I also let my friends and family borrow my dvd's and they have dvd copiers
> so they probably make copies of the dvds too.

As long as you don't see it, it doesn't diminish your own ethical standards? Cool. A lot of folks aren't bothered by things that happen in those far-away countries they only see on TV, either. I guess you don't feel it's your job to advise and ensure your friends don't violate copyrights. Carry on.

> So in your eyes, am I a criminal that deserves to get raided by the FBI
> for copyright violations even though I do not profit from copying 1 or 2
> of these movies per month...

It's not about profit, unless your copied DVD blocks a sale or rental the copyright holder would otherwise enjoy. It's that others lose, not that you win.

Of course you don't deserve to be raided, but your situational ethics deserve to be held up and examined. The slippery slope you're on leads to copying commercial software, Corey Rudl marketing stuff, and the informational products that enable much of on-line commerce. It's only a small step to arguing that it's OK to buy a Corey Rudl course from MaaMaw, put it up on a web site and allow your friends and relatives to download it for "evaluation." You're not profiting, so it's OK? Or is it OK to rip off rich Disney corporation, but not nice to rip off the small entrepreneur like MaaMaw?

You might claim this is a straw man argument. I believe you're saying that movies (and possibly software and on-line marketing courses) are overpriced and if you can start your own discount barter-based marketplace then you adjust the price of copyrighted goods to match what the market is willing to pay. By creating your own copies that dilutes the inventory of legitimate ones in circulation.

Something tells me if you made your living this way, and it was you're ox being gored, that you'd scream bloody murder if your market was diluted. That's what makes it a relevant discussion for FIB.

> ...or do you think the FBI has a lot more important
> things to do like stopping terrorists from KILLING US?

Says the speeder to the motorcycle cop: "But officer, aren't there some *murderers* you should be chasing instead of little ol' me?"

Do you think that tactic should work? Talk about lame arguments. First Hitler and then the terrorist alternative argument in one week.

> I think the first step to stop piracy is to stop electronic stores from
> freely selling any kind of duplication equipment. What do you think? Not
> likely to happen right?

Crowbars are being sold every day in Home Depot, some for legitimate uses, and some to burglars. But if you walk down a suburban street at 3AM with one, and a pillowcase in the other hand, you should not be surprised when the cop stops you and asks for an explanation.