Min første melding er da som følger (med bare noen få endringer i formateringen):

Hei,

Jeg leste i dag på VG Nett to artikler som omhandlet strenge vilkår i NRK-lisensen. Den første artikkelen handlet spesifikt om to personer som hadde vært utsatt for brann der deres TV-apparater hadde gått tapt i brannen, og som møtte liten vilje fra lisensavdelingen i NRK til å yte service for noen som gikk gjennom en tøff periode. Den andre artikkelen håndterte de strenge lisensvilkårene på litt mer generell basis. Etter å ha bekreftet mine mistanker ved en gjennomlesing av de faktiske lovene og forskriftene rundt dette, la jeg igjen en svært irritert kommentar under den førstnevnte artikkelen. Jeg vil gjerne gjenta min kommentar her (lettere omskrevet), adressert til de sentrale organene og personene rundt denne saken, inkludert de to journalistene som sto bak nyhetssaken hos VG Nett.

Først av alt, her er lenker direkte til de artiklene det gjelder:

• VG Nett: NRK krevde lisens for utbrente TV-er
• VG Nett: NRK om lisensavgiften: – Det finnes ingen formildende omstendigheter
• Lovdata: FOR 1980-10-23 nr 8798: Forskrifter om fjernsynsmottakere

Jeg vil også si at dette ikke er første gang jeg hører om en slik sak, og det gjør meg provosert at ingen hos NRK, Medietilsynet, Kulturdepartementet, eller tilsvarende politisk hold klarer å se at noe må gjøres med slike strenge vilkår – jeg tenker bare på at til og med straffeloven har formildende omstendigheter.

Det er veldig trist at lisensavdelingen i NRK ikke klarer å yte service for de som har vært utsatt for noe som husbrann. Spesielt dette stusser jeg på (sitat):

“Nilsen fikk klar beskjed om at hun skulle ha gitt beskjed før lisensperioden startet 1. januar.”

Jeg kan bare tenke meg hvordan en slik beskjed hadde foregått; “Hei, jeg skulle gjerne ha stoppet lisensavgiften min, ettersom huset mitt kommer til å brenne ned 18. januar, altså om fire uker.”

Det er rett og slett høl i hodet (for å bruke et slikt uttrykk) at det skal være såpass strengt og uvilje hos NRK på slike hendelser.

Jeg leste også gjennom hele den forskriften som Freddy Lysfjord siterer en paragraf fra, og jeg synes det er skremmende at det er absolutt null slingringsmonn i loven med tanke på ting som er utenfor vår kontroll. Selv om du skulle bli utsatt for brann eller naturkatastrofer som ødelegger mottakeren helt, eller blir utsatt for lengre ufrivillig sykehusopphold (ulykker, koma, osv) eller dø, så må du betale lisensavgiften (selv om du ikke er i stand til å betale noe som helst av regninger). Det er ingenting i loven som gir fritak fra lisensavgiften i slike tilfeller, og dette burde ha vært gjort noe med for lengst.

Og jeg må nesten sitere en av de mer tåpelige utsagnene fra Freddy Lysfjord, avdelingslederen i NRK Lisensavdelingen:

[..] ”Men dersom en person dør før ny termin begynner er vedkommende selvsagt ikke lenger avgiftspliktig for den nye terminen.”

Kort sagt, hvis en person dør for eksempel 3. januar eller 5. juli, er vedkommende avgiftspliktig for neste periode? Hvem skal i så fall betale denne avgiften? Gjenferdet til denne personen? Hva med å bruke §5d i forskriften om fjernsynsmottakere? Hvis man er død, vil man da ikke kunne regnes som noen som ”varig er sterkt funksjonshemmet slik at det er vanskelig for dem å bevege seg utenfor boligen eller å få kontakt med andre”? Man vil da være såpass funksjons-”hemmet” at man ikke kan bevege seg noen steder (verken innenfor eller utenfor noen som helst bolig), og til tross for påstander fra såkalte ”klarsynte”, tviler jeg sterkt på at den døde kan få kontakt med noen som helst. Dette er da å sette denne problemstillingen helt på spissen, ettersom generelle avtalesammenhenger vil avslutte et kontraktsforhold på en skånsom måte dersom den ene parten skulle falle fra.

Ettersom NRKs lisensavdeling sier at det ikke finnes noen formildende omstendigheter, burde det ikke egentlig ha vært tilgang til nettopp formildende omstendigheter i lovforskriftene for slike tilfeller? Man kan jo ikke kreve at å kontakte NRKs lisensavdeling skal være en av de første tingene man må gjøre i forbindelse ekstreme forhold som brann og naturkatastrofer? De som har vært utsatt for slike ekstreme hendelser, og også pårørende til ulykkesofre, sykehuspasienter og avdøde, har gjerne andre og viktigere ting å tenke på enn å avbestille NRK-lisensen for neste periode.

Men også med tanke på at per i dag, må alle, etter at de siste senderene av analoge TV-signaler ble slukket, ut med et månedsbeløp til en eller annen signalleverandør (enten det er digitalt bakkenett, kabel-TV eller parabol) for å i det hele tatt motta signaler (eller kjøpe en signalboks fra RiksTV for å kun motta NRK-kanalene), mener jeg også at NRK-lisensen i sin nåværende form har utspilt sin rolle. Jeg mener da også at lisensen enten blir fjernet helt og/eller blir bakt fullstendig inn i månedsprisen man betaler til RiksTV, Canal Digital, Get, Viasat, eller en av de andre leverandørene. I sistnevnte tilfeller kan det da også være tilfeller der det er muligheter for redusering eller frafall av lisensdelen av denne månedsleien i spesialtilfeller (blant annet de unntakene som nevnes i §5 i dagens forskrift).

Dere som har kultur og medier som sentrale virksomhetsområder trenger virkelig å få gjort noe med dette snarest.

Med vennlig hilsen,

[..]

Jeg er såpass “heldig” at jeg bor i en av de kommunene som er med på prøveordningen med stemming over nettet, og det gikk forholdvist smertefritt da jeg gjorde min plikt hjemmefra onsdag kveld. Slik jeg opplevde det, krever denne ordningen at Java er installert på maskinen, men noen jeg kjenner hadde problemer med dette fra sin Mac, så systemene er foreløpig ikke helt perfeksjonert. Jeg vil tro at dette vil bli løst hvis ordningen skal utvides ved stortingsvalget i 2013, og jeg håper virkelig at stemming via nett er noe som vil videreføres til senere valg.

Med tanke på at det nå er lokalvalg (kommune og fylke), valgte jeg å gå bort fra det partiet jeg vanligvis stemmer på, og satte heller ned en liste over interessante partier på venstresiden (ettersom jeg er sosialist i mitt hjerte), og gikk for et parti som ville sette enkelte lokale saker på dagsorden (og hva de ville gjøre med dette).

En av disse sakene er da diskusjonen rundt det å opprette bompengering rundt Ålesund, slik det har vært i Oslo ganske lenge nå. Dette er en ordning som jeg er sterkt imot, og jeg mener at dette vil være en sterkt medvirkende faktor til å drepe næringslivet og boforhold i byen vår. De som er for en slik bomring vil kanskje peke på økt bruk av kollektivtrafikk, men dette gjelder nok dessverre ikke for alle. Vår by er rett og slett for liten for en slik type ordning (beregnet folketall for Ålesund kommune nærmer seg 44.000 i disse dager).

La meg ta et lite Min mor og stefar jobber begge i Spjelkavika, som da vil være utenfor bomringen, men bor i boligfeltet Fjelltun. På Fjelltun går det i dag buss tidligst 07:15 om morgenen, neste buss er da 07:50 og deretter går det en buss i gjennomsnitt hvert 40. minutt gjennom dette boligfeltet. Min mor må noen dager begynne 07:30, og må dermed spasere ned til hovedveien for å ta bussen derfra. Hvis hun skal være fremme i tide, må hun begynne å gå hjemmefra klokken 6 om morgenen (og er da fremme på jobb like før 07:00 – det er enten denne bussen eller den som går 35 minutter senere, og da kommer hun jo for sent). Til vanlig bruker hun ganske nøyaktig 15 minutter med bil hver vei, så da må hun velge mellom en reisevei på til sammen 2 ekstra timer hver dag, eller å bruke opp mot 200 kr per dag bare for å få lov til å gå på jobb.

Det henger ikke sammen, og hun er ikke alene om en slik situasjon. Ikke alle er i en posisjon der de kan ta kollektivtrafikk til og fra jobb, og ettersom buss er det eneste kollektivtilbudet her i byen, passer ikke en bomringordning for vår by. Det kan hende at en bomring passer for andre større byer, men Ålesund er ikke en av disse.

Derfor falt valget mitt denne gangen på et av partiene som ønsker at en slik ordning skal utsettes for en folkeavstemming, som vil være mer demokratisk måte fremfor at politikerne overkjører oss med en såpass omfattende endring av bymiljøet.

En annen ting som har frustrert meg over valgkampen den siste tiden, og for så vidt også under alle lokalvalg, er at de forskjellige partilederene reiser rundt i Norges land for å drive valgkamp. Jeg føler at dette blir helt feil, ettersom det er de lokale sakene som er på dagsorden, vi trenger ikke en generell gjentakelse av hva de forskjellige partiene står for sentralt. Jeg vil mye heller høre hva de aktuelle listekandidatene vil gjøre for lokalsamfunnet. Hvis jeg skulle f.eks. høre fra valgkampen til SV, ville det være mer interessant å høre hva Anders Lindbeck, Eirinn Landgren eller Rune Kleiven hadde å si (disse tre er SVs toppkandidater for kommunevalget i Ålesund – jeg lette opp dette), fremfor å høre fra Kristin Halvorsen. Det blir feil for toppolitikerene å reise på Norgesturné under et lokalvalg, og enda verre blir det når de reiser rundt i en buss som er ulovlig enkelte steder.

Dessverre er tendensen at disse sentrale politikerne ikke lærer seg hva folk faktisk vil, og vi kommer nok til å se samme oppførsel om igjen ved neste lokalvalg om 4 år.

Jeg har for min del allerede stemt, og hvis du ikke stemmer selv, vil jeg si som en valgreklame på NRK i 2005 sa: “Da har du valgt leverpostei“. Med andre ord, det å frasi seg retten til å stemme ved valget, er også et valg. Og da mener jeg at du også frasier deg retten til å klage over de folkevalgte.

Later this week, my sister’s boyfriend’s (can I still call him “brother-in-law” if they’re not married?) family comes over from Sweden to celebrate my niece’s first birthday, so that could be fun. They’re always a joy to hang with, so it’s all bound to run smoothly. Two of them are even going to be guests at our house, simply because accommodation elsewhere isn’t always affordable and/or available. But hey, it’s family, right?

In other news, early yesterday, it became clear that my auction was a bust. No takers. I can see two reasons for the auction failing. One, I started the auction that close to Easter, and most people take the Easter week off in Norway (since there are only two and a half workdays that week, anyway). That would put a dent in the possible attention it could get during its two week run. And two, the price was simply too high for a single sponsor. Taking this into consideration, I waited until today to run a second attempt on the auction (NOTE: Norwegian text only). This time, I divided the sponsorship into 4 parts, which would hopefully be a more suitable value for smaller sponsors. The auction runs for 14 days, ending on the 16th. If it doesn’t happen this time around, it will never happen that way.

Who knows? Maybe I’ll get lucky this time around… (Of course, if anyone else would like to contribute, I’ll accept.)

Also in the news, Osama Bin Laden has finally been taken out. As someone I know pointed out, Obama did in 2 years what Bush couldn’t in 7. Then again, it has been a long process in the making, I’m sure. All this mess, and in the end, it ended up with a shoot-out in a villa in Pakistan. A small tactical team was what it finally took to get him. Not huge airplane fleets dropping bombs, not convoys of tanks, but good intelligence and a group of specially trained soldiers (fine, I suppose they did have the support of several tanks and other heavy equipment, but still). What it really takes, is good and solid intelligence with sensible leadership behind it all to do a good job. Not acting on a whim, like Bush did with Iraq. Not to mention bombing the hell out of Afghanistan. Sure, Afghanistan and Iraq had leaders rotten to the core who ignored everything about human rights, but it would still pay off in the long run (both in reputation and in actual costs) to have intelligence reports people can count on as well as people who know what the hell they’re doing.

Like I said when the US started dropping bombs in Iraq, I asked myself several times: Why couldn’t they just gather enough solid intel to take out Saddam Hussein and his cohorts with a small tactical team (or a few assassins)? That would be much quicker and painless than attacking a bunch of civilians. It would have been much cheaper, too. And with Afghanistan, “he must be hiding in a cave up in the mountains” is not a solid enough lead to start bombing the landscape.

We (as the whole world, more or less) can finally start rebuilding the messes we made in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and turn over the keys to the sensible leaders actually elected by the people so they can continue on their own.

Now, who’s next?

The first encounter was outside a grocery store (where I had just made some minor purchases). I was sitting down on a bench, enjoying the last few sips of some strawberry milk (no, I’m not making that up), when a Swedish girl asked to sit down with me to talk a little (she did bring a friend, but she kept very much in the background). She revealed that she was a Christian, with a deep faith in Jesus (you know, that guy from the second half of the Bible). She wanted me to know that God sees me, and will continue to protect me (no matter what I believed), and asked further what my faith was (agnostic – I’ll explain further down – as I also explained to her). My faith is very inclusive towards all/most religions, basically. She also asked if everything was alright, if I had any problems in particular, which I really don’t. We had some small talk for a few minutes before we said our goodbyes. The whole thing kinda put me off for a few minutes after that, but all in all, it was a slightly positive experience.

Later on, about 15-20 minutes after my first encounter, and on my way back to the office, I had a second encounter. This time, it was one guy (Norwegian, who sounded like he was from the Oslo area) and two girls (who the guy identified as being Canadian and American). I had noticed their faces a few minutes earlier, as I had just passed them about a block earlier, heading in the opposite direction, but they must’ve taken an interest and caught up with me inside a shopping mall. They, too, were Christian, and they asked if they could pray for me. Heck, I’m an open-minded guy, and thought that if it would make them happy, I’d just let them. They, too, asked if there were some problems in particular to pray for, which I really didn’t. They each put one hand on me and took a turn with their prayers, basically asking to protect me and praying for my continued kindness, each in their own words. The whole séance probably took about 5 minutes, with odd stares from people passing by. When they finished, they thanked me for the opportunity, and we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways, leaving me with a strangely positive feeling of some strangers caring about me enough to do all that.

Yep, today, I was a Christian magnet! It was a particular “life is good” kinda day, too. My monthly pay rolled in the day before, and my 31st birthday is tomorrow (well, technically speaking “today” at the time I write this – it’s way too late in the evening/night, though).

Agnostic? What’s that?

Some of you might wonder about my stance towards faith and religion. I define myself as an agnostic, which means I’m in doubt.

I believe there’s something all around us, which is yet to be properly defined. I believe that religions world-wide have made efforts to define it by giving it names. Some call this feeling God, some call it Yahweh, some call it Allah, some call it The Force, some call it Mother Nature, some have even split it into several deities. In essence, I believe all of these are one and the same, only with different names.

I believe there is “one truth” for all of us, yet to be defined, and that this truth is somewhere in our common future, somewhat further down the line that any of us can see. In the meantime, it is not only correct, but essential to keep your current faith, as long as you respect the faith of others, even if it seems to differ from your own. The important thing is not what you believe in, but that you practice your belief respectfully and without resorting to violence.

OK, that’s probably enough words of wisdom for one day. I guess the idea of growing older is sneaking up on me today.

As you may’ve caught, China strongly disapproved of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate of 2010, Liu Xiaobo, as they consider him to be a criminal. They’ve gone as far as sending letters to the Oslo-based embassies of Western governments, urging them to disapprove of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize (and not attend the ceremony on December 10), as it interferes with Chinese domestic affairs. All mail sent from the Norwegian Nobel Committee to the Chinese embassy lately has been returned unopened. Liu’s crime? Signing a public manifest (Charter 08) which disagrees with some of China’s politics. Something which is strongly encouraged in most of the rest of the world, and in all of what’s considered the Western world. It’s just silly.

And today, it was revealed that North Korea has a new device on its market. Where the concept of a PDA is more or less outdated in the rest of the world (or at least in developed countries), this appears to be “cutting edge” in North Korea just now. From what Engadget could tell by the photos, this PDA runs Windows CE, a half-sibling to the Windows Phone platform (previously called Windows Mobile). It doesn’t have Bluetooth, GPS, WiFi, broadband, or even phone capabilities, which more or less states that it doesn’t have many areas of practical use. The cost? Around $140 for the high-end 8GB model with a microSD slot. And that’s in a country with an estimated $150 monthly income per person (btw, that’s pure guesswork based on the GDP numbers per capita from CIA’s World Factbook).

In more positive news, my blog article on my little backstage tour of the Blue Man Group production in Stockholm was recently featured on Blue Man Group’s official Facebook page, as well as shared on their recently created Twitter feed. My, I feel proud.

I just hope I’ll be able to repeat such a trip next year. I’m hoping to either visit one of the stops on the U.S. National Tour (which has brand new material) or see the permanent show in New York (which is the classic show, going “back to the roots”). I’ll have to see what direction the economy takes me once 2011 has begun. If I’m extremely lucky, I’ll go for both options, but there’s also a chance the outcome will be neither one – I’ll just have to take it as it comes. I won’t know for sure until the end of March or beginning of April, though. Mid-April would be the last opportunity for a well-planned trip in July (although I could plan it as late as mid-June, but that would be pushing it to an uncomfortable level). Until then, I’ll happily accept suggestions for possible destinations.

And what crime would that be? Openly expressing his opinion about human rights in China and, in essence, openly critizing the Chinese government. That’s right, the freedom of speech which most of us in the so-called Western world take for granted, is forbidden by law in China.

According to a poll on the subject in China, they also demand that the Norwegian Nobel Committee should withdraw the prize and apologize to the Chinese people.

Honestly, there’s nothing to apologize for. The fight for human rights and the freedom to peacefully express one’s opinions is on the path to peace, which I believe is in line with the Nobel Peace Prize. The Chinese government should be able to see this, and relax some of their laws pertaining to freedom of speech and domestic political disagreement. I mean, China apparently wants to be treated differently by the rest of the world (as in, “we are right, everyone else is wrong”), which is a factor to establishing the Great Firewall of China and more or less separating Internet in China from the rest of the world to minimize political influences. To a great extent, they appear to want to be the “Iron Curtain” of the 21st century, and we all know how well that went for the old Soviet Union…

It’s time for China to realize what they’re doing and stop their childish ways, especially in the treatment of other nations in the world. I know I probably won’t be able to visit China after this post, and considering the political situation, I’m not sure I want to either.

And communism is just a nice theory, but human nature makes it unfeasable and impossible to implement in the long run. There, that should cement my status as a criminal according to China, right?

Some of you might’ve caught film director Kevin Smith‘s recent trouble with Southwest Airlines, where he was, in essence, kicked off the flight because he was too fat – after being seated. He had paid for two seats (which is already a bullshit premise), but arrived so early at the airport, so he decided to jump on standby for an earlier flight. That earlier flight only had a single seat available, which mr. Smith didn’t mind – in his words; “I didn’t buy an extra seat because I’m fat (which I am), but because I’m anti-social and didn’t want to sit next to someone & possibly have to make convo (in person, I’m very shy)”. According to his story on Twitter, he was seated between to ladies, and he fit the seat perfectly without an extender, yet, the captain didn’t want him on the flight because he was a security risk.

When I returned from the singles party in Oslo last Sunday, I had a similar problem. I had checked in to my flight with SAS the night before using their mobile website, just to make sure I actually would be on the flight, considering it was the last flight of the evening (SK 1334 from Oslo to Ålesund at 9:45 PM on Feb 7, to be exact).

Knowing that seat rows with the emergency exits have slightly more leg room, and considering that I had no problem sitting next to an emergency exit on of the US flights last year, I checked in to seat 11A, which on this flight is the window seat smack dab next to the emergency exit. This was even indicated clearly on the seat chart during check-in (which is why I selected that seat).

As I said, sitting next to an emergency exit is not a problem for me, even if there should be problems during the flight. I have enough arm strength to rip the door handle right off if/when needed, I can remain calm in an emergency, and I can be more than helpful guiding my fellow passengers out the emergency exit if the plane should be damaged enough to make for a hasty exit. I sat next to an emergency exit at one of the flights in the US (I don’t remember which flight at the moment), and I even sat next to an emergency exit on my flight down to Oslo earlier that same weekend. As on all flights in recent years, I was wearing a seat belt extender, and on both previous occasions, I was only asked if I was able to handle the emergency exit if an emergency should arise, in addition to being asked about language barriers and my understanding of the additional instructions when seated next to an emergency exit.

However, on this last flight, I was told that since I was wearing a seat belt extender, I had to move to a different seat, due to being considered a security risk. I was even compared to a woman with child (pregnant or with a new born), and was told that anyone requiring a seat belt extender could not be seated next to an emergency exit. Not one to cause a scene, I reluctantly moved to the seat row behind my original seat, as that flight had about 20, maybe 30 passengers in total (and both seat rows in front and behind my original seat were empty). I was kinda grumpy the rest of the flight, to say the least.

In recent times, I always ask for a seat belt extender the second I board the flight. Sometimes they give it to me there and then, and sometimes they bring it to my seat after the boarding queue has died down. When I flew to Oslo that weekend (SK 1331 the Friday before), the attendant brought it to my seat – knowing full well that I was sitting in a seat next to the emergency exit. I was only asked the usual questions regarding emergency instructions etc.

For some reason, the flight attendant on that particular Sunday flight had a beef with me.

I mean, if there’s such a security problem regarding seating next to emergency exits, why even allow passengers to check in without problems to these seats? Also, it’s the first time I’ve even heard of such a regulation.

I fit snugly into airplane seats with the arm rests down, no problem, it’s just that the seat belt itself doesn’t reach all the way around. If I stand on my knees on the seat, people can pass by me without any problems, so frankly, I don’t see why I couldn’t sit there.

I originally was going to let this one slide by silently, but with the issues Kevin Smith had today,  I just couldn’t shut my mouth much longer.

Between Ålesund and Oslo, there are only two airlines available; SAS and Norwegian. Norwegian (Air Shuttle) is the cheapest choice of the two, but you do get to bare minimum. A friend of mine used Norwegian Air Shuttle on a trip to London a few months ago, and had trouble with flight delays due to weather (where SAS re-routed the flights to the neighboring city (Molde), Norwegian instead let the airplanes return to Oslo), in addition to not getting any service or information during these delays (something which she noticed the passengers with SAS got – SAS, to their credit, even set up bus trips to Molde so people would get to their destinations). This little story made me select SAS for my flights out of Ålesund. Yes, they are a little bit more expensive (anywhere from 100 to 300 NOK extra), but you (usually) get a whole lot more customer service out of those extra money.

Then again, that single flight attendant did kinda ruin my flight that day. I know how Kevin Smith must feel.

If you look closer at the history of Apple’s products over the recent decade, Apple is a smidge more evil than Google. They don’t allow others to run their software, they’ve tried restricting their customers to a single platform (not just with music, but with their software and devices as well), they don’t allow for competing products on their platforms (and not just from small-time developers), they’ve tried silencing third party developers from discussing matters relating to Apple with others, they try to run the blame game on their customers (for product problems, they’ve been accused of stealing (not only user interface designs) and they even twist the truth in media just to generate over-hype about their coming products, just to name a few things.

This type of corporate culture is one of the reasons I don’t own any Apple products. Even though their computer products are slightly more enhanced for media production, these computers are just too restricted (software-wise) and high-priced for me to bother. As for the other portable devices (iPod, iPhone, and now, the iPad), the above-mentioned corporate culture and behavior is the main reason for not choosing Apple products on my part.

The iPod and iPhone may have been somewhat superior products when they were launched, but even back then, I could see several flaws and things missing with the iPhone in particular. Besides, when their competition launched their “similar” products under a year later to compete with the iPhone, these were already vastly superior to the iPod and iPhone in features, hardware, software and freedom. Still, Apple seems to have a “fanboy” following that can almost be compared to a semi-religious sect, with Steve Jobs as their almighty savior (something that has, thankfully, been pariodied on more than one occasion).

Yet, Steve Jobs dares to criticize Google for having evil traits, contrary to their own slogan. That may just be a case of the pot calling the kettle black – he should probably take a closer look at his own organization first.

I would agree with Thomas here. I’d fight the ridiculously high demand to my very last breath. Not because I don’t want to pay for the music I have, but because I disagree with the methods these trade organizations (RIAA, IFPI, BSA and MPAA being the major offenders here) are using to battle content piracy (“content” being music, films, software and whatnot — I’m counting games under the “software” umbrella here, btw).

I admit, I download music, films and TV shows illegally on a semi-regular basis. But, I buy a lot of it legally as well.

Once the most recent episode of Heroes or CSI (just to mention a few) hit the pirate networks after being aired in the U.S. a few hours earlier, I download it (or, at the very least, later that same week, depending on when I remember to check in). I don’t want to wait until the one of the local TV networks decide to air it, mainly because they are constantly one or two seasons behind the U.S. broadcasts. And some of those TV shows are even available on the pirate networks in both standard definition and HD. For the sake of simplicity (and storage space), though, I usually go for the standard definition ones. That’s not to say I’m not willing to pay for it. Heck, I’d gladly pay a monthly subscription fee if I could get all of my favorite TV shows legally, and the second they are available from the respective production companies. The only services I’ve heard/read that do this, are only available to customers inside the U.S., which is a shame to me, as a customer in Norway. Sure, I can use a proxy service to mask my IP address as if I was in the U.S., but why go through all that trouble, when I can get the same episode from a pirate network for “free” – and keep the episode afterwards?

I’ve pirated a few movies as well. Whenever I’m very uncertain about whether the movie is worth the DVD price and/or shelf space, I usually download it from a pirate network first. If the movie was bad or disappointing, I’d leave it at that. If the movie was great or absolutely worth my money, I later go out and buy it on DVD. The latter has happened to me on several occasions; Chicken Little, Cloverfield, Jumper (the latter two being surprisingly underrated), just to mention a few.

I’ve also bought (or gotten as a present from my wishlist) Heroes (season 1 and 2), CSI (seasons 1 through 7) and Stargate SG-1 (all 10 seasons and the two movies following the series) on DVD as a result of downloading these illegally first.

The same goes for my music collection. I have roughly 30-40 music CDs (maybe even up to 50, I don’t have the exact count), but close to 60-70 GB of music on MP3 (roughly 13-14,000 songs), all of various quality (128-320 kbps). I don’t add to my collection as frequently as I did before, but I still get new music, roughly a half of a CD album’s worth once or twice a month. Some I get from pirate websites, of the AllofMP3 type, some I get from genuine online music stores (DRM-free).

The current count of DVD units (TV series seasons and movies) at the time of this post was close to 940, all purchased or gifted 100% legally, so in a way, I consider myself a good customer of the movie and TV industry. Yet, when I pop a DVD into my DVD player, I feel intruded upon whenever the usual video regarding piracy comes up (the one with “You wouldn’t steal a car…” etc). I can’t skip it (“next” or “menu” on my DVD remote), even though I’ve literally seen it thousands of times before. I feel like I’m being stamped as a criminal even though I’ve bought the movie myself. Besides, those who pirate this DVD is not likely to include that short video when they distribute it anyway. It has no purpose.

The only positive anti-piracy campaign I’ve seen, was a pamphlet included inside the cover of one of the DVDs I bought from Play.com (UK-based, which means region 2 encoded DVDs, suitable for all of Europe – for you Americans, they also have an American division for those region 1 DVDs). I don’t remember the exact words on this pamphlet, but it basically said that by buying this film legally, I support the creators and producers of the film, and encourage them to make more. Now, that’s the type of spirit I want to see.

No matter what these trade organizations do, they won’t be able to shut down piracy completely. If you shut down services like The Pirate Bay, a few weeks up to a month later, a new website just like it will pop up (either from the same creators or from some other part of the world) and become the most popular piracy website instead.

And yes, there are people who have the ideal of “everything should be free”, even if that applies to software, music, movies, TV shows or other performing arts.

I’m not saying they should just give up, I’m saying they need to reconsider their current business and earning model. They count each instance of illegally copying a song or movie file as a lost sale due to piracy. Trouble is, what if that person who illegally downloaded wasn’t going to buy that song or movie if he/she could afford it? What if that person wasn’t willing to spend money on something he/she had never heard of or seen before, or on something that has gotten very mixed reviews? A file is just a file, much like a piece of paper.

They treat each of these “lost sales” as a physical copy, even though they are not. Comparing movie piracy (through downloads) to the theft of a car is like comparing Apple and Orange. It just doesn’t work that way. Movie piracy is more like borrowing a book at the local library, scanning every page of that book into your computer, and then returning the book afterwards. Those scans are then given away to anyone who asks for it. The original physical copy is still intact as ever, but did the publishing company and/or author actually lose sales over it?

When portraying their current and potential customers as potential criminals (as they do with the today’s continuing campaigns), they are only going to deter the most skittish of pirates, while the piracy bigwigs won’t even flinch by these campaigns. Instead, they should rather promote the positive effects of paying for movies, music and software — like helping artists, producers, designers (and all others involved in the production process) to continue their work and make more.

Second, instead of fighting sites like AllofMP3 and The Pirate Bay with lawsuits and sanctions, they should rather look into why they are popular and see the business opportunities in the distribution and pricing models (of the type used in AllofMP3) used.

Also, when I’ve tried to watch a certain music video or try to access certain types of music/video content (non-porn, for those who try to insinuate something), I’ve been countered with the message that my country is not allowed to see that content. There are no real country borders on the Internet, and the rights owners should realize this by now. When there are things I want to access, but can’t do it legally only because of where I live (considering the content itself is not against any laws or regulations in my country), I’m more likely to obtain the same content illegally.

Also of note: first of all, the fines and outcomes of those close-to-frivolous lawsuits (by my standards) are not going to the actual artists whose rights have been stepped on. They more or less line the pockets of the executives and the executive branch of the industry. The artists and composers down the line are not compensated, as I’ve understood it.

Second, take a look at some of the targets of these lawsuits and/or fining campaigns (the latter being offering the target to settle the case for a single fine rather than going to court); single mothers, young students, grandmothers, children, computer novices and even dead people. This seems more like hunting for humpback whales with a BB gun and a butterfly net (terrible analogy, I know, but I’m just trying to project an image of futility here — btw, the bigwig pirates would be the “humpback whales” in this particular analogy).

There, I just had to get it off my chest.

They are claiming that each time a phone rings with a certain ringtone, it’s an unauthorized performance of music (especially if there are people around to listen to it), and thus will require royalty payments for every time the phone rings with that ringtone. And that’s even when content providers pays royalties for selling ringtones to us consumers.

First of all, how would your carrier know what ringtone you have set? You might’ve changed your ringtone to one of a selection of songs already downloaded to your phone, or even used one provided by your phone manufacturer.

And second, what’s next? Royalties for each time you sing along with a song, or hums a tune? Or if there’s a song stuck in your head? I mean, come on!