There have been so many campaigns of various sorts from pro-copyright organisations seeking to stop unauthorized copying of games, music, movies, books and so on. One of their arguments is that it is illegal. That one, I can understand and empathize with. These organisations represent people who profit from consumers paying for the information that they have created, and thus have an interest in keeping consumers paying instead of acquiring the same information for free. It is thus completely reasonable, although I have no idea whether it is actually profitable, that these organisations use education, scare tactics or whatever you want to call it.
What makes me angry is when they use moral arguments. Like the rather outlandish sweeping claims that surface now and then that piracy supports terrorism and organised crime. Sure, if you buy a counterfeit DVD in Hong Kong the triads might earn a few eurocents, but "piracy" as in file sharing of copyrighted materials has a different set of beneficiaries – ISPs, hard drive manufacturers (these guys must make billions thanks to file sharing) and, I believe, computer manufacturers in general since those who pirate games generally spend some money on new computer parts which they would otherwise spend on games if they could not acquire them for free.
No, on the contrary, it is buying music that supports terrorism and organised crime. While I have no hard data on the exact consumption of drugs by musicians signed to a record label, I would say, based on lyrics, the musicians’ own testaments, their many arrests and subsequent releases, and my personal experience, that they consume fucking truckloads of illegal substances. Had it been pot that they were growing in their own wardrobes, fine, I could not care less, but there are lots of musicians that purchase cocaine, speed and all the other nice things that terrorism and organised crime profits from. What is more, the labels generally make no attempts to stop them from continuing to undermine democratic society. Did Pete Doherty lose his record contract for using drugs? Rolling Stones? Nick Cave?
Swedish artist Kleerup was high on cocaine during some sort of music industry narcissism event in January this year and got busted by the police. He was so angry, poor guy, and believed the police had no right to interfere with his life like that. He, however, apparently has a right to support drug wars, social unrest, the killing of police officers and so on in the Americas. Despite this, his records were still stocked by Swedish record stores last time I checked, even though their purchase quite openly supports terrorism. Meanwhile, people named Ahmad and Mohammad have a hard time just sending money back to their families in Somalia, because, you know, terrorism.
So, hey, next time you buy a record, remember a police officer in Tijuana died for it.
