[ubuntu-us-in] getting Jaunty... responsibly... locally..?

[Brian Fahrlander]

David Ernst wrote:
> Thanks to both of you Michaels for your advice and suggesting
> bit-torrent.  I'd never used it, it's amazingly easy, no setup, wow.
> I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I associate bit-torrent with
> things like downloading movies illegally, so although I know this
> usage is perfectly legal, I still figured there'd ... be... something
> not to like about it.  But, I loved it.  I even let 700M of the file
> be uploaded from my computer as my way of saying "thanks".  :)  
>   
[Sorry this is long; my doctor said I needed to do two miles a day, and 
I was hoping he meant text.  :> ]

    Yes! This is a fabulous idea. I wish I'd had it...in fact I 
did...and people threw rocks at me, telling me I was being 'unrealistic' 
and it was 'too insecure'. That's ok; not the first time.

    But as to BT in general, here's the lay of the land.

    We're in transition right now. The lines between copying and 
stealing are blurred. Two camps at work, the music and motion-picture folks.

    The RIAA (music folks) would love to buy off the Justice Department 
so they could charge you for humming a tune. (There's a reason you don't 
hear "Happy Birthday to you" being sung in businesses anymore). These 
people are aggressive, stupid, and usually cruel. This is all history, 
not opinion, here.

    The MPAA (motion picture folk) hurt like you'd expect from "Cams" or 
"Telesyncs" of their currently-running movies. And they'll 
prosecute...and they should.  But unlike it's prominent-eyebrowed 
counterpart, it's actually learning from the experience.

    For example, they *know* they broadcast their shows (Burn Notice, 
Big Bang Theory, etc) and they don't get paid for that: they get paid by 
advertisers.  So, in the case of  Burn Notice, they always talk about 
Sams sweet Cadillac, how much they enjoy DirectTV and for some reason, 
blueberry yogurt. They watch who are downloading these episodes by 
country. When it's hot someplace, they go sell the show, there. When you 
see media 'loose' on the internet, shared freely, it's usually some of 
these folks, because they "get it".

    They're aware that fans have friends. And fans show their work to 
other people and make other fans.  Better works mean more fans and more 
money. Better plots and surprise endings go a long way.

    BattleStar Gallactica was only available in Britain. "Pirates" got 
copies of it to America, no matter what they did. And when the first 
episode showed up there it set _records_.  It was good TV, not cheap 
hacks. It was compelling, and made a lot of money.

    Unlike Windows clients who can be damaged by downloading torrents 
(like they risk damage of dowloading _anything_) you can try out 
anything you find without fear for your machine. Try "deluge-torrent" to 
do the downloading, and having http://FeedMyTorrents.com do the picking 
of the episodes for you and you'll be able to get every episode of your 
favorites as soon as it's available.  I don't own a TV anymore; this 
lets me cherry-pick what I watch.

    So no, don't download cams; those films cost a lot of money. But old 
movies, especially ones not published anymore? Knock yourself out. 
Episodic TV? Feel free. The MPAA isn't mad at all.  Just watch what you 
hum in your sleep, aye?  :>