The MPAA are not the bad guys. WE are the bad guys.

This "Digg" news story is just one example of the ongoing war between the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry of America, and their customers/thieves.

What bothers me about this fight isn't so much that people are stealing movies and music. Full disclosure: I've done it. I remember way back as a kid pressing record on the tape deck so that I could tape songs off the radio. Bad sound. But good times.

No. What bothers me is the idea that some people, like the people in that DIGG thread, are starting to think that aren't doing anything wrong if they download. This is nonsense. It is theft. Look, we all do bad things. Everyone. If I was the pope, I'd forgive you. But the record and movie companies have every moral right to try to sell the product that they spend money creating. They are being very forward thinking in doing so, by the way. Convergence is upon us. It is already possible to download a first run movie while it is still in theatres and watch it on your holy-shit sized television. It just isn't perfectly easy. But better quality and ease of use is coming in all areas of that chain.

This isn't like open source software either. I mean it could be. If you and your Internet friends want to get together and create open source free movies to compete with the Hollywood studios, go right ahead. Same with music. Just don't make me watch or listen to them.

Pirate Bay - the new big thing in thievin' - sees itself as the anti-hero. It sees itself as the heir to pirate radio. But there are two things wrong with that. First, pirate radio wasn't justified either. It's perfectly acceptable for the government to regulate the amount of limited FM bandwidth there is. But secondly, even if you disagree with the first point, this isn't someone ranting and saying expletives on the airwaves. This is people choosing that someone else's hard work should be enjoyed for free against the wishes of the person or people who did the hard work. Charming.

You'll notice that I'm not getting into statistics like the ones that say that more digital media is bought by the downloaders and that business has never been better. It's because I don't care. That information is in the hands of the relevant service providers. It is theirs to do with, tactically, as they wish. My guess is that they don't think that's a situation that will continue indefinitely. But again, deciding what to do with that information is their prerogative. They are the creators.

I also know that the existence of this phenomenon is spurring changes and innovations in the industry. Great. But smallpox spurred innovations in medicine. It doesn't mean I need to send it a thank you card.

In any event, I know we'll still steal some. We often can't afford all the music we would like. The ability to do it is there. And it is hardly the worst of all crimes. The market is not going to stop being the market - free stuff will beat out low or high price.
But if you are doing it don't be smug about it. You're no hero.