By: Morgan Killian-Moseley
BLUE BELL, PA--Copyright law is a tough subject to deal with. On one hand, if someone creates something that makes the world better, they should be allowed to reap the rewards. Ideas are never fully protected by copyright. So if someone uses their work without any gain by the so-called “pirate”, I don’t think that should be prosecutable.
But what constitutes an idea, exactly? Is it something that just stays in somebody’s head forever? That I doubt, because most ideas have gotten out already and have changed the world. If an idea is something that can be tangible, why should it always be copyrighted, kept away from those without the money to pay for it?
Small portions of some software is used for free under fair use regulations, with the expectation that you’ll buy the full version. But some people don’t. They just keep taking free trials of something else. Some other people can’t afford to buy computers, period; so they have to rely on the kindness of others.
The entire idea of copyright is money. Only if you profit will you do something good, the Founding Fathers said. What we need to do is take the money out of the equation. In “Star Trek: First Contact”, in the 24th Century, human society had evolved to the point where currency no longer existed, and humanity worked to better itself. Having taken a trip back to 21st Century post-apocalyptic Montana to stop the Borg from changing history, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, played by Patrick Stewart, explains to a surprised Lily Sloan, played by Alfre Woodard, that very fact.
Lily can’t understand how currency doesn’t exist. But it needs to be done. If people want to be better, they need to become equal and the thing that holds society back the most is money. Money is power, and those who have it, abuse it. Therefore, if people are pirates who “steal” music, then in the words of Robbie Rotten from Lazy Town, “do what you want, (because) a pirate is free.”
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