On Black March

[evilhippo]

I'm going to sopasoapbox here for a second guys, sorry. But I keep seeing posts about Black March, and while I agree with it in principle, I can't imagine it having any significant effect on the MPAA, RIAA, etc. Why? Because while we are still part of the demographic that everyone courts... most of us don't spend a lot of money on our

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[evilhippo]

I'm not saying the boycott is a bad idea, or that people shouldn't do it, I'm just suggesting that there are other ways to supplement it that will help make more of a difference. These companies already know we're unhappy, but it isn't going to stop them from doing what they're doing, because they're convinced that they can't make money if people share things with each other or try them out for free before they buy them. Boycotts mostly work if they actually make a dent in profits, which I don't think will happen if we only take a month off. If we framed it as a way of proving that we do spend money on these things and aren't just pirates, it'd probably be more poweful, but we're not framing it that way. (I have a lot of issues with how the actual Black March image is worded, actually, especially the half-quotes around "piracy" and "conspiracy" in regards to megaupload. Has no one read about its founders? Has no one used megaupload? This is not a thing we should be making into a rallying point, because it's one of the most clear-cut instances of internet piracy ever.)

And it's not fandom I'm concerned about--most of what I've seen for Black March has been in other parts of the internet, where people mostly just pirate things and maybe buy a big-ticket video game once in a while. (Video gamers have a huge issue with DRM that they haven't found a way to avoid and still get the things they want, because non-PC video games are still reliant on game systems that are easily-controlled by their producers, which means access to indie games is still through the giant central corporation--which is another problem altogether (and is also why I'm very wary of Apple's business models in regards to computers).)

One thing I've noticed over the last few days, with all the SOPA/PIPA protests, is that most people are not on the same page as LJ/Reddit/etc. This will probably snowball within this sphere, but is unlikely to gain any traction with a significant number of people that aren't heavy internet users. (On Wednesday, I was flying interference in my office about "the entire internet being taken down" and "Obama shutting down wikipedia," and most people hadn't even heard of SOPA... which was, sadly not uncommon.)

[apple_pathways]

You can say that about just about any bill being passed through congress: that most people haven't heard of it. :P

There's undoubtedly a lot of people out there who just want to continue getting their media for free, and couldn't give a damn about the underlying issues of censorship and lobbyist control of our government. Being a huge fan of television shows that are unavailable / not readily available in the US, I want to keep getting shows like Sherlock for free, without having to wait and then purchase the DVDs. (I don't think it's too much to ask. I may not pay a license fee, but with the amount of money I've shelled out for BBC merchandise over the years, I think I've made up for it.)

So yeah: there's going to be assholes in the movement. Not everyone will be in it for the same (or the right) reasons. I'm kind of OK with that.

If anything, people need to be more vocal about how they'd like to see the protest and the discussion framed, and put into words exactly what they hope to accomplish. I posted the "Black March" graphic on my journal as-is as a quick way to broadcast an idea I'm mostly on-board with. Closer to March, though, I'll come up with my own wording for what I hope to accomplish. I think your point, that we should send the message of how much money we do spend on media, is a good one. And we can damage their first quarter profits. As for the long term? Well, it would be hard to sustain.

Anyway. More discussion is good, is what I'm saying, I think. And it makes me happy when people can actually be moved to do do things, and inconvenience themselves in the name of a cause larger than themselves.