I’ve read about them. Those caped crusaders who troll the Internet, searching for poor consumers who are unable to pay for the movies, books, and articles they crave.
“No fee, make it free! Free for all,” they cry through their masks. “No one should charge for content on the Internet. It must be made available to all who want it, for free!”
So they set up sites to provide that much wanted content to the poor, helpless, needy masses trapped in the wasteland of the virtual world. The angelic smiles of the masked ones glow sweetly as they watch the poor, starving masses ravenously gobble it all down.
Virtual feeding of the masses. A noble life’s work indeed.
So what if the content is stolen?
And who cares if the caped ones populate their sites with ads to make a few bucks on the side? Who can blame them? Behind those masks they are real people. They do, after all, need to eat.
The important thing is that they have provided for the little people.
They have righted a wrong. They have taken what was created by the greedy–the writers, filmmakers, photographers, and other content creators–and made it available to all.
Copyright, schmopyright.
Those content creators–the writers, filmmakers, software developers, and so forth–aren’t real people anyway. They don’t need to eat.
Besides, why should they get paid for what they call their “hard work”? What’s so hard about it?
“No fee, make it free! Free for all!”
The caped crusaders troll on.