On Copyright & Piracy

Up front, I don't condone or endorse piracy (lest someone sues me), and this post is simply bringing a bit of background to the table. You know, a different view point, if you will, helping people to make a more informed (rather than disformed) decission.

For one, there are several differences between movie/music piracy and software piracy, second, between piracy in Asia (say) and the West. Not all pirates are created equal and motives between users tend to vary, as well.

Let's talk Asia first.

In a country where a typical middle class income is below $500 a month and a basic computer costs about $300, why are software packages priced in a way to tripple the purchase price of a computer?
You see, buying a computer for $300 when you earn $500 a month, takes you about six months of saving. The computer then comes with an illegal OS and a pirated copy of M$ Office installed.
If you bought the same computer with a legal version of M$ Windows, it would have cost you $250 more. Add a licensed copy of Office Pro and the machine totals out at about $950.00
If you earned $500 a month and lived in Asia, then you would have had to save whatever you could for about 18 months to afford it.
12-18 months after your purchase the machine is outdated and software upgrades either need faster CPUs or more RAM.
This is about the time when you saved enough to replace the old system. In other words, to have basic computing packages with legal software at your disposal, you'll never have money to spend on anything else...

Of course, if you didn't have a computer you would have had little chance to land a $500 a month job and would have had to work as an unskilled or underskilled factory hand for $200 a month. Then ot would have taken you three years to afford a computer with pirated software and the better part of your youth to buy M$ Office.

What do we learn from this? If 'they' want to fight piracy in Asia, simply drop the price to fit the average income in the countries in which they want to sell licensed copies. Duh!
If they don't, then buyers will use pirated software. As simple as that. Or they will stop buying computers altogether.

In the West people earn more, and buying licensed software hurts them less.

Then why do some people still prefer pirated software, or to put it differently, is there a way to maybe even justify the use of pirated software in the West?

I believe there is.

You see, if you buy a new car, you get a warranty and can be reasonably sure that the car will last as long as the warranty and that if there are faults or damages that you get them fixed for free, often getting a free rental while your car is being fixed, right?
Software is faulty almost by definition. There are no warranties. Worse, you don't even own the software per se, you only buy the right to use it. And with some wellknown packages you don't even get that. With them you RENT the right to use the software.

Imagine you got a new box, and it actually seems to work (yeah, I heard that this actually happens. Really. Okay, not often. But it is possible. Let's just assume for argument's sake, okay?).
So there you are with a functioning computer, doing some major work. Backing up to a floppy every now and then. Then Office screws something up, Windows freezes, you work is gone and when trying to use the floppy in another system you realize that the heads in your other drive were unaligned and the floppy can't be read.
Tough luck! The fine print says, in not so many words, "the customer hereby accepts that he is screwed and waives his right to any discourse".

So, if they give you garbage to begin with, and you risk your time and effort using it, and experience shows that as soon as they finally have most of the garbage issues looked after, and everything runs smoothly (I know, but this is theoretically speaking, okay?), that is about the time the garbage is outdates and replaced with a new faulty piece of crap.

And no, you do not really have a choice. You can't opt out. Not really.

Saying you don't have to use M$ software is like saying, everyone could build their own car, when car ownership was just about mandatory.

I like Microsoft. Yeah, I actually do. Without them computers would still cost $5,000 a piece and the net would still be a tool of ubergeeks and Pentagon's paper tigers.
So, credit where credit is due. We owe Microsoft a lot. And we all paid them a lot. So why pay more if they don't improve?

To sum up, if software was priced in a way that fits the national and regional income brackets and if software was treated like other manufactured items in terms of warranty and reasonably assured functionality, then there would be no piracy to speak of.

Think about it.

I'll post about movies and MP3 collections (oops) later, in part 2.

In Good Company

Yep, seen that one as well.

I actually like it. The story makes sense and even makes one think (just a bit), although I would have expected a happier ending.

Still, the premise is basically that a young hot shot sales guy gets to head the sales office of the largest sport mag in the US when his boss buys out the mag. The previous top dog at sales at the mag is retained to help the kid out, but he is being demoted and the kid himself has no clue what he is doing.

What made me think is that these things actually happen in real life everyday. Most of the time the young kids fail miserably but cover it up well enough and blame it on someone else. And as most guys in charge come from the same background, same schools and unis, they tend to naturally stick together.

This makes one ponder the question "which moron is responsible for putting a bunch of teenagers in charge of the US economy in the 90s?"
Of course, we all know, it's the press, who turned investments into a spectator sport.
I'd also blame Greenspan for letting it happen, even ushering it along. But that is a different subject altogether and it will be a few years yet, before the general public gets a whiff of just exactly how badly the Fed screwed them.

Back to the movie. I liked it. It's realistic, bitter sweet, sometimes funny.
Watch it with your spouse, amour, someone else, basically.

The benefits of organized crime

So, I read this article in The Independent, a UK newspaper, about the protection racket in Sicily.

Apparently all shop owners are paying a set rate, depending on the type of industry and size of their shop, between $500 and $2,500 per quarter to the local Don.
Collection is puntual and courteous, by well-dressed and well mannered young associates.

That is nasty, innit?

Now, get this, since the flat rate has been introduced in some neighbourhoods and things have been organized in a civil manner, crime is down to, wait for it, zero.
Zilch. Nada. No crime. At all.

Jewelers are leaving their doors open, banks reduced their security outfits, people are starting to park their cars unlocked.

Hmmmm. Makes one wonder. Sure, exthortion is bad, but right now we are paying the government for protection and look what great job they are doing with keeping their end of the bargain.
And it's not as if anyone could refuse paying the government for non-fullfillment or breach of contract. The gov would get quite nasty, confiscate your stuff, sell your assets, take your kids, beat you up, throw you in jail, because not paying is illegal.

And the gov is charging huge fees for not doing its job.

That is when it hit me. The government is fighting protection rackets because it knows it doesn't stand a chance if it had to openly compete with them for the contract of providing you with security.

I mean, hey $500 per quarter? Where do I sign?

With the gov, you pay much more, and have to get insurance on top. When things then turn ugly, the gov won't help and the insurance most likely won't pay.

Who exactly where the criminals again?

Okay, you say, at least you get to elect the government.

Hmmm. Do you? Dare tell.

You get to choose between two guys, hand-picked by their respective parties from a bunch a people themselves hand-picked by a party committee, the members of which occupy just about heriditary positions.

You get to pick the mayor? Yeah, what and it does you awfully good, too, doesn't it?

Helloooo? Look at this:
$500 per quarter = no crime at all.
$gazillions per day = rampant crime.

Now tell me who is doing a better job. And no, you are not freer under the government than under the Mafia. The Mafia doesn't care about your day-to-day affairs, which school you send your kids to, which recreational activities you engage in and where you are hiding your surplus stash. And the Mafia does stick to its word.

Think about it.

Woops, got feedback

It is amazing how undemocratic liberals are.

I knew of course that I would be flamed for my 'equality post', and I actually expected worse reactions, in the sense of argumentative people bending over backwards, misinterpreting single lines from the post and then disproving them, you know the thing people with little rethoric abilities usually do when they try to appear knowledgable.

But wow, no comments were posted, just off-list mails, and quite a few of them.

The funny ones suggested me to be a racist pig (which shows that the writer neither knows about racism, nor about pigs, because most racists tend to be very orderly, having to feel all superior and all, and pigs will happily shag any other pig they come accross, with no prejudice whatsoever), a woman-hater (no way, I love them all, sometimes twice, more when I was younger), someone who licks roosters (you know the word), and what-have-you.

What I didn't receive was even the slightest attempt at disproving me or convincing me otherwise.

Nor did I receive a single mail that included something to the effect that I was utterly wrong, had no clue what I was talking about, was a menace to society and a danger to myself, but would be well within my protected rights to decidedly adhere to what was commonly held to be an incorrect point of view. (Woohoo, read that one again; translation: nobody said, like, dude, you are nuts, but that's okay, coz, well, you know, this is free country)

I did however, receive quite a few mails that suggested that my posts made people think.

And that suggests to me that there might still be hope for us, after all.

Oh and to reader #7, thanks for the flowers ;o)

Closer

Seen Closer a couple of days ago. I sucked. Period.

Sure, the acting is above par and the story is a shrink's wet dream, but why make a film about a bunch of insecure artsy types, their power plays and attempts at manipulating each other?

I am not saying that it is not very realistic and that many people are really that screwed up in their heads, but why make a movie about something that should be a source of self-doubt, careful self-analysis hopefully resulting in an attempt to improving oneself?
Worse, why waste the talents of Julia Roberts and the cuteness of Natalie Portman (her talent being beyond reproach in that one) on something that is neither funny, nor a documentary, nor particularly entertaining, nor in fact really a situation drama?

I'd say the movie is a psychoanalysis of the over-sexed liberal crowd that got so much sex that they forgot how to appreciate it and how much more fun it can be when it's not used for manipulating others.

Maybe that is the real root of the problem right there. People have sex and come without orgasming anymore. Addicted to the chemicals released during climax, their mind forgot that orgasms should happen in the head as well. Then it's a real kick.

Maybe I'm just pissed off for not getting laid often enough.

Seriously, how did sex become so manipulative? Sure, everybody plays games to 'get some' at some stages in their lives, but the trend is in fact the opposite. It used to be that people manipulate each other to get sex. Now they have sex to manipulate each other.

That's sad. Seems to me as if people are realizing that they lost the ability to be loved.

Think about it.

On Spam & other system failures

Today was the first time we received more than 10,000 spam mails.

What a proud achievement of democracy!

Huh, what the two have to do with each other? Well, for one, both are a nuisance, full of the proverbial and neither do what the message claims they would.

Lemme explain, if ya will. Spam is protected by the well-paid interpretation of an ammendment to the US constitution. But what if don't happen to be in the US? What if I ain't American? What if my country of residence forbids spam of all types and flavours?
The spam still arrives in my inbox everyday, pretty much non-stop, because somebody in the US makes use of his constitutional rights and sends it.

Sure Congress (you know, the opposite of pro-gress), passed some bill (and the buck), and spam is frbidden unless it's allowed and spammers have to follow strict guidelines unless they don't.

If you ask me, this looks like a conspiracy theorists backyard. You know the fertile soil he grows the weirdest stuff in. I propose that the reason nobody acts against spam more actively is simply that the powers that are WANT the networks to be overloaded. They WANT that spammers annoy us all to death, because sooner or later we will beg them to make it stop.

And when we do, they will say, no problem, everybody gets a personal IP address. For life. Everyone and everything connecting to the Net, can do so only with a registered IP address, and everyone can be identified by that address.

In other words, give up privacy, give up free speech, and we'll make the spam stop.

In the meantime, we'll let it happen, call it the American way, and blame it on servers in China or whoever else is the bad boy country of the day.

Think about it.

Electra

So I watched Electra at a friends place yesterday (yes, I do have one, a friend, amazing, I know).
Garner is hot of course, in a non-beautiful kind of way, mind you.

The story is so-so. More Daredevil than Catwoman, but basically, well, they could have made so much more out of the story line.
But then, I am the guy who hates loose ends, inexplicable and non-sensical turns.

So if you are into action with mysthical settings, unexplored plots and a female lead in a kewl outfit, go watch it.

On Equality (gender, race, etc.)

All men are not equal.

Face it, it's a fact. No matter how politically incorrect, some are faster than others. Some are brighter, some are luckier. Some are women.

Where is the equality between a white guy born into an upper middle class family on the East coast or Western Europe and a black guy (no, I don't use 'male person of colour', because I like to be clear about things I say, and using the definition of 'skin pigmentally saturated' sounds weird), born in Central Africa?

Where is a person who is born into a caring and educated family, whose parents take the time and interest to ensure he/she receives a good education, in any way remotely equal to a person born into a syfuntional household of an overworked single parent who is always broke and blames the kid for it?

Where is the equality between a 3rd generation Asian martial arts champion and fat bastard like me?

So, no, people are not equal. Period.
We could end it here, but in reality, this is where the interesting questions pop up.
Namely, why are we being forced to repeat a falsehood as a mantra of truism and why are disadvantegd people not treated equally?

In other words, why is the lowest common denominator of humanity the level we are expected to strife to achieve? (heck, I already exceeded that standard the second my mum conceived me).

So it's not about race but about about genetics, breeding and intelligence.

Why are Asians seemingly more successful at business, why are Blacks excelling at sports, why do Whites have a knack for mechanics, why are wealthy people told to feel guilty about being wealthy?

It's all in the genes.

Imgine that for countless generations it was common practice that the sons learnt the trade of their fathers. Don't you believe that if someone comes from a long family of wood carvers, that he can make the most intricate carvings about the same time he starts talking?
He will naturally tend to copy what he sees as he grows up because copying is the way we learn things. Early on he will have more practical experience at carving than any of us will ever have.

Of course, it's not a very fashionable tradition anymore and nowadays his son is likely to become an artist or a research scientist, maybe an architect. But these three professions have a similar creative root of design and shape.

Now, these crafts that run in families, came over to the US from Europe. The forefathers of this, say, architect were the guys who carved the doors to a gothic cathedral. Get my drift?

Looking at the Black race, without prejudice or judgement of any kind, their forefathers were making an existence in the jungles and steppes of Africa. Gifted hunters, daring traders, smart farmers, maybe. Scary warriors, if you will.
Then they were rounded up, shipped to the Americas, or their home turf was occupied by colonial powers. The usefulness of their crafts and expertise declined because they had to do things the Masters' way.

A few generations later, being liberated, in the sense of having the choice to be left to ones' own device, their skills were once again sharpened to do whatever it takes to survive. That's instinct.
Everyone would do the same thing in their place.

But that is what the genetics are. Survival. That's it.

No crafts. No engineering. No philosophical pondering.

The newer generation blacks is still searching for their place in society and for their place in the world community. The Whites, by forcing the equality issue, will never allow them to find that place and instead appoint an allocated spot for them. The spot of being a white guy with black skin.

Nature did not design us equal. There is no way on God's green earth that we ever will be equal (how boring would that be? I can barely live with myself, imagine 7 billion of me...).
They are better at some things, we are better at others. By sharing each others achievements, the team can excell beyond the wildest imaginations. But our current system forces everyone to wait for the slowest and pretend to him that he is as fast as everyone else.

Think about it. You know that this is bad for everyone, Whites, Blacks, Asians alike.
Race equality in front of the law. Certainly.
Equal oportunity based on merit. Absolutely.
Quota system based on colour. You gotta be kidding.

And then God created Woman.

Some say that she brought evil into the world. Sure as hell she brought lust and macho behavior among the monkeys that are Man.

Men and Women are equal.

What? I'm stronger, faster, dumber even. Equal?
She is softer, more assertive, more intuitive, less rational.
Where did nature insert the equality there?

Society has pushed females into being more male than males in their quest for an unwarranted and inachivable equality.
The system wants us to believe that apples can be oranges.

In the process of becoming more male females took our place, leaving us lost and wondering what was expected of us. So men turned into whimps and sniffing weasels, being lost for purpose. Then women complained about men having changed, but wouldn't let us behave like men (obnoxious, ill smelling, rude and noisy, but courteous and gentlemanly towards women).
We can't open the door for them, pick up something they drop, but they are happy if we pick up the tab.
If you ask me, equality slaughtered romance.

Whatever happened to the damsel in distress who we could worship and who took the reigns of her admirers as soon as she realized the powers at her disposal?
Well, she works 9-5 in an office, rises through the ranks up to a certainlevel faster than her male collegues, who hate her for it, never knows if here promotions are based on gender quota or on merit, generally hates her life and blames her husband for it because society tells her to do so.

Whatever happened to the caring and loving mother who ran the household supreme, controlled finances and expenditure, planned education and future of her children and could always be counted on as being the uber-mother of her husband?
She is out making a career, competing with her husband and ignoring the kids who are brought up dispising the opposite sex because both their parents blamed the other for the failed marriage.

In other words, gender equality brought a lot of unhappiness for everyone involved.
Is it worth it? I moved to Asia because I felt threatened by having a female boss - NOT.
I would feel threatend by anyone with superior powers, knowing that the person got there because of an error in the system rather than through performance.

Any female superior in our system will be pondering this very same question from day one.
And that makes for a bad boss.

Think about it.

In the Beginning...

... there was BBS :o)

Okay, I am ancient enough to have been around before there was a web, and get this, used to host BBS over my phone line. How sick is that?

Now, since then I have been going on bitching expeditions, as if it was a life style. It sort of actually is. Well, you know, MY lifestyle.

After years, hey, over a decade, of bitching on various boards, groups, fora (yeah I know the plural of forum; plural is when, you know, like, there is more than one), my fans (both of them) kept embarassing themselves by begging me to start a blog.

As it is fairly difficult to turn down people who employ the art of begging convincingly, I finally decided to hear their pleas. Well that and the fact that cross-posting my takes on life became too time consuming. It got bad enough that I was invited to my own funeral after not having posted for a couple of days and everyone was convinced I must have finally met what I deserve, my early demise.

So here we go, my fist blog.

For the six people who don't know me, a few notes as an intro:
(1) Don't read my blogs, you will be offended.
(2) Don't criticize my blogs, or I will be offended.
(3) It is my job to bitch about everything; nothing is sacred.
(4) It is your job to agree with me, because I am deeply hurt if anyone doesn't.

That out of the way, I would love feedback and to learn about other people's views, as long as they agree with me in principle (the poor misguided dears who don't, well, they should post as well, to give it all some kind of irrelevant, yet highly fashionable democratic touch, lest my blog gets liberated by way of bombing the data center).

What to expect from the ThePrivateerDaily is basically the view of someone on the street who is on many streets at the same time. And I mean that literally. Been to over a hundred countries (ooooh), done business in a dozen or so (aaaah), and believe to be qualified to comment on things the press often has no clue about, but reports on anyway (arrogant prick, I know).

I dislike rules that make no sense. I dislike people with no track record telling me how to live my life. I dislike people people who believe to be making an argument when in reality they are stating an unbacked opinion.

I dislike people who spend their days pointing out that I am not using a spell cheker and don't reread my texts befor hitting publish.

Welcome to my life,
enjoy the ride.