Pirates by Any Name

   Before taking this class, I thought that copyright laws were basically so strict that you couldn't use anything copyrighted without going through tons and tons of legal procedure. You couldn't use music in a video or presentation, or even play it in public places. You couldn't show video clips without creating your own original animations, and even that's creative copyright. Now, I know that there are ways, not many, but some specific ways to use copyrighted materials under fair use. I thought you had to be completely original to keep from violating laws, but it's not true.

   One example of a piracy lawsuit I found was Pirate Bay v Sweden. In it, the caretakers and possible creators of the site, thepiratebay, were put on trial for creating their pirating site. The main defense was that the creators did not actually pirate anything themselves, but only facilitated the pirating of other things with a service that could be used to distribute media legally. The final ruling was that they aided in the process of pirating and were sentenced to one year in jail and fined $3.5 million in damages.

   The guys from piratebay seemed to be protected by the same idea that protected YouTube and Veoh, that the creators never directly took place in pirating, and therefore could not be prosecuted. But when you create a service that uses peer to peer sharing, a service used almost exclusively for pirating, and name your site "thepiratebay," it's pretty obvious what the original intentions of the site were. They may not have pirated, but they caused the pirating of millions of dollars worth of entertainment and software. They were an accessory to the crime.

Technology Then, Now, and in the Future

  Living in the modern era, my life has been immersed in technology since the start of my memory. I am taught by technology as a kid. I am entertained by technology. I communicate using technology. Sometimes, it feels like I have a constant IV attatched to my computer that's keeping me alive. It seems like I do everything except eat and sleep with technology, well, except for when I go to sleep while listening to my mp3 player.

  Everyone's life is like that now, though. What makes me different is the level to which I understand technology. It's not much, but more than the average person. It all started when my brother first opened up the side of our computer to install our first videocard. When I saw all those colorful wires streaming out of the power source, I knew I was hooked. I learned a lot about internal computer hardware through the later modifications I made to my good old desktop. My brother actually had considerable influence in my knowledge and experience in technology. He is studying right now to get his computer science degree at Perdue. Obviously, he knows a lot more about computers than I do, but I catch some of the cast off as my dad is also a computer programmer, so the topic comes up in conversation pretty often. At some point in my life, probably in college, I want to learn to code in C++ or some other language, but that may not happen.

  Most of my knowledge of random things comes from computers, mainly from StumbleUpon, which has introduced me to a near endless flow of information on philosophy, mythology, and some things I never even knew I was interested in.

  Technology also has a very big role in my education. All through grade school, we had computer class, teaching us how to use computers for things like school work. Now, we use computers so often, it's hard to think of any assignment that can't involve them somehow.

  That's all boring education, though. Most often, what I find myself doing on the computer is sitting around, entertaining myself with the countless image and video sites that are relevant to my interests, which are, as you have already figured out, are quite nerdy. Videogames, tabletop RPGs, SciFi, writing, I love it all. Well, maybe not all of it. There's absolute mediocrity in all of those things, but I enjoy the good ones.

  Despite its aid in spreading mass idiocy through the world *cough,* YouTube community *cough,* I believe that technology as a whole is a wonderful thing. People always talk about turning to our natural roots or whatever hippie environmentalist idea is popular that week, but isn't technology a huge part what it means to be human? I mean, from spears and bows to MRI machines, haven't we evolved as a species due to the technology we created. We are practically above the rules of nature with all the medical technology we have. Animals can't create the technology we created as cavemen. Our ability to plan into the future, the more work now, less work later approach lets us create these wonderful machines that make our lives easier and better.

  In the future, I believe that technology will increase even more. My great-great-granddaughter may be able to hologram her boyfriend on a Earth orbiting space colony like we Skype someone today. The possibilities are endless.