thoughts on the book piracy situation
Here's the thing.
We do what we can. We do what we can afford.
I make questionable moral decisions with my money every day. I shop at Whole Foods, even though that's (a) taking money from my local natural grocery store, which I would hate hate hate to see go out of business, and (b) supporting John Mackey, who is, for some reason, against health care reform. I bought Christmas presents from Amazon, despite the fact that I was taking money away from my local bookstore, which actually DID go out of business (I was v. sad) and was re-opened recently with new ownership. I stopped shopping at my local indie record store, and it went out of business too. It's a head shop now.
I buy plastic water bottles, use them for a week or so, and then throw them away (preferably in the recycling bin). I leave lights on. I run the water while I'm brushing my teeth. I keep the heat on while I'm asleep. I drive a car. I am bad for the environment.
I buy clothes from stores like H&M. H&M's clothes are ridiculously cheap. Logically I know they can't possibly be paying the people who make those clothes a living wage. They've also recently been accused of destroying perfectly good clothing they couldn't sell. I shop there anyway. I also shop at Old Navy and the Gap and Urban Outfitters. Do I know where those clothes come from? No. Do I know what conditions they're made under? No. Do I buy them anyway? Yes I do.
I eat meat. I don't know if the animals my meat comes from have been humanely treated, or if they've been humanely slaughtered, or if the farms where they're raised are horribly bad for the environment. I eat meat anyway.
I don't shop at Wal-Mart. That's probably kind of arbitrary considering the above, but they're fixed in my mind as the embodiment of pure evil. I also hate the atmosphere in the store. But I know people who shop there, and I can't judge them. It's cheap. We do what we can afford.
If I tried to make sure every purchasing decision I made fit with my moral values, I'd never have time to actually buy anything. I just don't have the time, or the energy, or the money. I need to save my spoons. I do what I can.
And here's the thing: It's bigger than me. With a few exceptions, the purchasing power of one broke twentysomething in Milwaukee doesn't mean shit. I am not going to keep the stores I like in business, or put an end to sweatshops, or save the environment, all by myself.
Corporations have a LOT of power in this country. More and more every day. So what is going to change things is the corporations acting differently. You want to save the environment? Put tighter restrictions on corporations, or make it financially favorable for them to put them into place themselves. End sweatshop labor? Same thing.
Atomic Records didn't go out of business because I, personally, stopped buying CDs. It went out of business because the larger trend was for people to download music rather than buying a hard copy. The record industry had to adapt. Sadly, my favorite record store was a casualty. Similarly, the indie bookstore I loved so much didn't go out of business due to any individual customer buying a book on Amazon. The economy had a lot to do with it.
We can only influence places where we have power. My power to influence corporations with my money is negligible. Sometimes I act as if it makes a difference; sometimes I can't get up the energy. There are very few places where I have power. I have the power to give every library patron I deal with a courteous and fair checkout experience. I have the power to give my cat a loving home. So I do that.
My point is--proselytizing to your internet audience that they shouldn't pirate things because it's wrong isn't going to do much. Those individual people might vow to never download a book, but if the larger trend is increased piracy of ebooks, it's not going to make much of a difference. If ebook piracy really hurts publishing, then publishing is going to have to adapt. Just like the record industry did. It might suck and it might have consequences nobody wants. But you can't hold back the tide.
Blarg. This analogy may not hold up, and I could be talking out of my ass. It's just something I was musing about today. I get sick of people preaching that piracy is wrong. I'm pretty sure people generally know what piracy is; the ones who care won't do it, and the ones who don't aren't going to be convinced by your rant.
We do what we can. We do what we can afford.
I make questionable moral decisions with my money every day. I shop at Whole Foods, even though that's (a) taking money from my local natural grocery store, which I would hate hate hate to see go out of business, and (b) supporting John Mackey, who is, for some reason, against health care reform. I bought Christmas presents from Amazon, despite the fact that I was taking money away from my local bookstore, which actually DID go out of business (I was v. sad) and was re-opened recently with new ownership. I stopped shopping at my local indie record store, and it went out of business too. It's a head shop now.
I buy plastic water bottles, use them for a week or so, and then throw them away (preferably in the recycling bin). I leave lights on. I run the water while I'm brushing my teeth. I keep the heat on while I'm asleep. I drive a car. I am bad for the environment.
I buy clothes from stores like H&M. H&M's clothes are ridiculously cheap. Logically I know they can't possibly be paying the people who make those clothes a living wage. They've also recently been accused of destroying perfectly good clothing they couldn't sell. I shop there anyway. I also shop at Old Navy and the Gap and Urban Outfitters. Do I know where those clothes come from? No. Do I know what conditions they're made under? No. Do I buy them anyway? Yes I do.
I eat meat. I don't know if the animals my meat comes from have been humanely treated, or if they've been humanely slaughtered, or if the farms where they're raised are horribly bad for the environment. I eat meat anyway.
I don't shop at Wal-Mart. That's probably kind of arbitrary considering the above, but they're fixed in my mind as the embodiment of pure evil. I also hate the atmosphere in the store. But I know people who shop there, and I can't judge them. It's cheap. We do what we can afford.
If I tried to make sure every purchasing decision I made fit with my moral values, I'd never have time to actually buy anything. I just don't have the time, or the energy, or the money. I need to save my spoons. I do what I can.
And here's the thing: It's bigger than me. With a few exceptions, the purchasing power of one broke twentysomething in Milwaukee doesn't mean shit. I am not going to keep the stores I like in business, or put an end to sweatshops, or save the environment, all by myself.
Corporations have a LOT of power in this country. More and more every day. So what is going to change things is the corporations acting differently. You want to save the environment? Put tighter restrictions on corporations, or make it financially favorable for them to put them into place themselves. End sweatshop labor? Same thing.
Atomic Records didn't go out of business because I, personally, stopped buying CDs. It went out of business because the larger trend was for people to download music rather than buying a hard copy. The record industry had to adapt. Sadly, my favorite record store was a casualty. Similarly, the indie bookstore I loved so much didn't go out of business due to any individual customer buying a book on Amazon. The economy had a lot to do with it.
We can only influence places where we have power. My power to influence corporations with my money is negligible. Sometimes I act as if it makes a difference; sometimes I can't get up the energy. There are very few places where I have power. I have the power to give every library patron I deal with a courteous and fair checkout experience. I have the power to give my cat a loving home. So I do that.
My point is--proselytizing to your internet audience that they shouldn't pirate things because it's wrong isn't going to do much. Those individual people might vow to never download a book, but if the larger trend is increased piracy of ebooks, it's not going to make much of a difference. If ebook piracy really hurts publishing, then publishing is going to have to adapt. Just like the record industry did. It might suck and it might have consequences nobody wants. But you can't hold back the tide.
Blarg. This analogy may not hold up, and I could be talking out of my ass. It's just something I was musing about today. I get sick of people preaching that piracy is wrong. I'm pretty sure people generally know what piracy is; the ones who care won't do it, and the ones who don't aren't going to be convinced by your rant.