The last voyage of the pirate
It’s no secret. I was a pirate. Not the kind who roamed the Seven Seas in search of loot to pillage. No Sir. I’m a new age pirate. I dive deep into the vastgness of the net in an endless pursuit of data. Yes, my fellow friends. I was once a software and data pirate.
But no longer. I have hung up my digital cutlass and have lain fallow my bandwidth. I have declared my early retirement, and it is not simply because I have collected enough e-riches (or iRiches if Steve Jobs has his way) to satisfy me for a lifetime.
In fact, I’m not entirely certain why I stopped.
It’s been difficult for me to nail down why I’ve stopped. So instead of mulling over it till the cows come home, I’ve decided to post some of my potential reasons. Perhaps the wisdom of crowds will point me in the right direction.
Reason 1 - Financial
Let’s be clear. I make money now. Not the mad marketing dough that’s continually purported in Mad Men. Not in the slightest. It is, however, enough for me to live off of and enjoy nice things with. Tie this in with the fact that I don’t subscribe to cable, the math points to that the money I save from not subscribing to cable can be poured into buying TV episodes and movies on DVD (or Blu-Ray).
While all this is true, it doesn’t fully explain my situation. Afterall, I was more than happy to pirate movies and TV shows when I was making money in the past few years. Also, I was more than happy to buy DVDs even when I wasn’t making money. No, this is only a partial explanation. (Though I have to admit that it is nice to see DVD prices fall.)
Reason 2 - Social
There’s two aspects of social in this case. The first is the general social acceptance and tolerance of piracy. The second is that despite the social acceptability, there are still legal hurdles currently in place, and to be enacted in the future that will try to reverse this trend.
Despite having countercultural tendencies, I don’t really think that simple social existence would sway me away from downloading. It is an interesting thought, however, that as new technologies and services appear (think Zip.ca and iTunes Media Store), I would be more drawn to them and slowly abandon my old habits.
With regards to the legal-side of rights protection, I think most people know my stance on unjust, and oft-draconian legislations. Pretty sure I don’t have to say much more than that.
Reason 3 - Personal
It is not a secret that I work far harder than I should for someone my age (I beg to differ, though). The obvious conclusion that’s drawn from this is that I have no time to watch anything. This is so absolutely untrue, I find the simple thought of it laughable. I take in so much more media now than ever before. I listen to 5 or 6 podcasts a week; I finish a video game every two weeks; I read more (legitimately paid for) books on my Kindle than I did throughout my entire undergrad degree.
Also, with my being out of the apartment so often during the day, it would make sense for me to use my full bandwidth to download all day, every day. And yet, I am not.
In any case, those are the three reasons I have pondered on for the last few weeks, as well as my attempts at debunking each of them. It’s clear that I have made little progress since I started this exerecise. Perhaps you can help? Would love to hear if you, too, have stopped plundering the digital seas. And if so, why.
In any case, that’s all from me.
Ciao
Sam
X-Posted from the.blog @scwleung here
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