Thank God for Pirates!

PIRATE

Piracy, legally termed as Copyright Infringement (not to be confused with plagiarism), done in many different forms: photocopying, online file sharing, unauthorized mass reproduction of books, films, photos, or any work of art .

It's a crime, the law says--robbery--stealing someone's property--intellectual property.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Who owns intellect anyway?

The Greeks told a story of a hero named Prometheus, a Titan, who whispered the secrets of the gods to the human race. In return, the gods punished him by sending ugly, hungry fowls to feast on his liver which regenerates time and time again--so infinite pain.

The 21st century, however, tells us a different myth; one which tells the stories about gods named oligarchs and slaves called consumers.

Before the the turn of the 21st century, the Oligarchs, especially in countries like the Philippines, enjoy much of their self-righteous business schemes. They made cash out of ownership of record labels, publications, production houses, corporations--each of them claiming possession of wisdom from artists whose works are by nature expressive and made for free consumption.

On the other hand, consumers, the Filipino mass to be specific, suffers economically, strives to live; working more, enjoying less; feeding stomachs, starving minds--all of these supported by laws made by legislators who are businessmen themselves.

Aside: I'm not an avid of Jose Rizal or any of his Illustrados but his concept of making the elite Hispanic knowledge of the 18th century available to the mass is utterly cool. Rizal knew that armed with knowledge and wisdom, oppression can be defeated.

Rizal himself was a benefactor of the age of enlightenment. And in a subconscious way (as Renato Constantino puts it), Rizal wanted to be a Prometheus for the Indios.


FILE SHARING AS REBELLION

Retrospectively, the earlier forms of Piracy which was mimeograph, benefited a lot of activists who learned Marx not by the original books, but by photocopied ones (especially during the Martial Law).

Even until the late 90's, one can still see college geeks photocopying Kafka or Ginsberg. But came our generation geeks can not only explore Kafka's mind but also find other relevant real time info through Facebook, Twitter, Google, Youtube, or elsewhere the Internet (Piso Net?).

This fire--the technology--sent shivers to the ever-lofty Oligarchs who felt they can fool around with people for eternity. And who'd they turn to keep their businesses alive? Politicians. Blacksmiths of the Anti-Piracy Law.

Think of it this way: who's hurt getting free copies of rare B-side tracks, the music lover or the rich record-label owner. Think what enlightenment comes to a street vendor who takes home a copy of films by Tarantino, what revolution happens in the head?

PIRACY ENCOURAGES ART

If the artist refuse to let the Oligarchs put value for their work, they can do it. This could be bourgeois by nature. But reality check, good art deserves compensation that the petty artist needs. As long as the artist pours heart into his craft, by nature it will pay. Shakespeare never claimed his works are good. But it stood the test of time. So it became.

An artist, an underground band for example, with so much talent can benefit a lot from file-sharing and social networking sites. A better example would be the now-known indie scene. Adam David's Xeroxography for indie-literature. Cinemalaya and Universities for indie-film. Comicon for indie-comics. Of course, internet for indie-music. All of these making an art scene more diverse as ever...makes art evolve!