Earlier, after review, we blocked and removed several communities that were providing assistance to access copyrighted/pirated material, which is currently not allowed per Rule #1 of our Code of Conduct. The communities that were removed due to this decision were:
We took this action to protect lemmy.world, lemmy.world’s users, and lemmy.world staff as the material posted in those communities could be problematic for us, because of potential legal issues around copyrighted material and services that provide access to or assistance in obtaining it.
This decision is about liability and does not mean we are otherwise hostile to any of these communities or their users. As the Lemmyverse grows and instances get big, precautions may happen. We will keep monitoring the situation closely, and if in the future we deem it safe, we would gladly reallow these communities.
The discussions that have happened in various threads on Lemmy make it very clear that removing the communites before we announced our intent to remove them is not the level of transparency the community expects, and that as stewards of this community we need to be extremely transparent before we do this again in the future as well as make sure that we get feedback around what the planned changes are, because lemmy.world is yours as much as it is ours.
Excuse me sir may I borrow a tomato seed? I’ll give you one back in a few months, promise!
Let’s say we live in a world where anyone is allowed to copy anything without issue or cost. Patents are now meaningless because people can copy an invention and make their own version, so there’s no incentive for anyone do the entrepreneur thing or invent new devices. There’s no reason for musicians to record anything other than maybe to drum up interest in their tours. No reason for digital artists to put things online. No writer is going to allow their work to be published as an ebook. Etc.
The costs to make things don’t change and the profit targets don’t change, so the people who do this are just causing higher prices for the prior who don’t, in exactly the same way as stores raise their prices to cover the costs of shoplifting.
- You baselessly assume patents are the same as allowing copying content for personal use
- If money is the only reason for someone to make content, then we are better off without it
- If a company changes prices and loses customers, it is entirely their problem, not the customers’. It’s the definition of free market
- I didn’t make any such assumption, I’m just saying if anyone can copy anything then copyrights and patents are meaningless. It follows from my hypothetical.
- The vast, vast majority of all content is made for financial gain. How many movies do you think would get made if people couldn’t get paid for it. There’s a lot of costs to just break even considering location rentals, shooting permits, craft and food costs, etc. All the people involved do it to make a living. How much content would there be if it was only donated time and materials?
- I have two big problems with this. For one, I didn’t say they were losing customers, I said the paying customers are subsidizing the costs of the thefts. Secondly, how can you possibly blame a store for raising prices to cover the costs of thefts? Should they just operate at a loss? How do they pay their employees?
Again, lots of rationalizations for taking stuff without paying. Can I ask you what you do for a living and if you think whatever product or service it is should be provided by you for free?
