Topic: Bill Gates claims watching pirated videos isn't stealing.

[Clive]

Bill Gates' piracy confession  
By Robert L. Mitchell on Tue, 06/20/2006 - 12:53pm

If you read way down to the bottom of a Wall Street Journal interview with Bill Gates that ran yesterday, you'll discover that the Microsoft executive admitted to watching pirated movies on the Internet. The confession came as he was talking about content he had viewed on YouTube. Here's part of the exchange:

WSJ: You watch physics lectures and Harlem Globetrotters [on YouTube]?

Gates: This social-networking thing takes you to crazy places.

WSJ: But those were stolen, correct?

Gates: Stolen's a strong word. It's copyrighted content that the owner wasn't paid for. So yes.

The Internet's biggest social failure has been that it has served as enabling technology for rampant cheating and theft - and the rationalization of it. The Internet makes stealing so easy that most people don't even think about it.

Bill Gates' comments would appear to be a case in point. You can hear the wheels turning as Gates thinks through the reality of his actions before finally admitting that he has indeed downloaded and consumed copyrighted content.

 
http://www.computerworld.com/blogs/node/2803

[GillE]

Thank goodness Crick and Watson didn't consult a copyright lawyer before revealing that they'd mapped DNA.  Where would genetics be today if they had?  What would have happened if Fleming had registered penicillin?

Copyright inhibits the spread of knowledge; it is an evil that the internet is well positioned to challenge.

Gill

[sam]

great, bye bye DRM then?

[Sandra]

Unfortunately Gill drug companies do copyright modern drugs, which keeps their costs artificially high.
If Fleming had been more of a businessman and less of a humanitarian he would have probably patented penicillin too  :roll:

Didnt some drug companies try to copyright some genes a few years ago that they had identified or something like that  :?

[sam]

well the copyright doesnt last indefinitely on drugs, just a few years.

[Reno]

We are reaching a period in history were knowledge will be easily to obtain and absorb. They've been talking about augmenting memory for centuries. Researchers have been pouring millions into researching how memory works and how to improve it for Alzheimers patients.

Energy concerns will soon become a thing of the past too. What will we use money then for? The only thing i can think of using money for will be to buy a good chunk private property so we can have a sense of privacy because world population is set to double in 10 years too.

The internet enriches society by distributing information to anyone who wants it. I hate to say this, but i think they should do away with copy written materials and allow free download to anyone who wants it and then raise the cost of the internet. Make internet service providing a regulated industry. That?s just about the only way i can see to rebalance these issues. Though I know there?s no way in hell they would ever do that. People would be sure to kick up a fuss about it. That would solve the problem for the here and now.

In the future money will mean less and less. Survival will be a guarantee and society will focus on the larger problems and less and less on the commercial problems.

[sam]

radical but interesting point there bob...

[Reno]

It was 3am after i had finished 6 hours of studing for a trigonometry test for monday. There is a possibility i came off a tad bit diluted and a little too idealistic. :drown:

[sam]

:-)

[Sandra]

It was 3am after i had finished 6 hours of studing for a trigonometry test for monday.

6 hours to study sine = opposite over adjacent Bob  :roll:

[sam]

i have a feeling he is going a little more advanced on this one.. well i hope so! :-)