There’s a recent movie I really enjoyed. I’ve already seen it twice, and I’ll see it at least two more times before it leaves the theaters. At least one of the next two viewings, I’ll gladly pony up an extra buck or two for the treat of seeing it on a digital screen up in Denver. When the DVD comes out next fall, I’ll snap up a copy the day it’s released.
That said, right at this moment I’m also downloading the movie courtesy of BitTorrent.
The copy I’m getting is illegal, and so is my download of it.
That said, my illegal download won’t cost the producers, the studio, the theaters, or anyone any money at all. Four times is as many as I’d see it without having it on my hard drive. And I’ll still, as I said, buy the DVD. I want those special features. I want to see that five gigabyte 480p picture on my HDTV in Dolby 6.1 Digital — and no AVI or MPEG file compressed down to 1.4 gigs can give me that.
So, yes, I’m breaking the law. But what harm am I causing? Everyone will get their money from me – all I get is a chance to re-watch a few favorite scenes (rendered in crappy quality) at my leisure.
What I’m doing is illegal. But I’m not sure that it’s wrong.
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