matgb | Ye harr me hearties... (Reply)

Meh. Um, yeah, pirates. Talk like a seagoing criminal day? historical seagoing criminal day? Spacegoing criminal day? Humourless git day?

I like movie pirates. I like pop culture pirates. I also, (whispers) like ninjas. Like most Lib Dems, I want it both ways and am somewhere in between. Real, modern day, pirates? An old CCG contact is currently serving in the Brazilian navy. Brazil has a navy? Yup, it does a lot of work chasing pirates. They're real, they're bastards, and they're not to be glorified. But Talk like a pirate day? It's fun. Because, at the end of the day, Johnny Depp is cool, right?

As for software "piracy"? That that terminology has taken root is due to good marketing within the industry, it doesn't make the descriptor accurate, and it may even have played a roll in making piracy 'cool'. Anyone who's had the conversation with me knows my opinion on illegal copying. It's illegal for a reasong godsdamnit. All the software on this PC is 100% legit, and mostly Open Source. I don't have any dodgy DVDs and the only copied CD I have was something I couldn't get hold of (and I managed to break it recently anyway, d'oh!). But it's not piracy.

It's the markets method of getting around excessive regulation. As legit sources for downloads came around, illegal downloads reduce. As different formats become available and movie DVDs are released earlier, the desire to buy them early, etc, is reduced. Crappy regulation is not a reason to break the law, it's a reason to change the regulations, that the industries took ages to adapt and, supposedly, lost billions (they didn't), is a sign that they're dinosaurs in a dynamic economy.

So, yeah, talk like a pirate. Use a silly icon. Have a giggle. Only, LJ? Next time you decide to celebrate International Talk like a pirate day? Could you make it so the little tricks you put on the profile and update pages showed up for people using English English as well as US/LJ English? Thx muchly.