Why I download 'illegaly'
Fernando Vazquez
Issue date: 11/14/06 Section: Life & Leisure
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It finally happened.
The other day I got a letter from Aaron Markham, director of Internet Anti-Piracy at NBC Universal Worldwide Anti-Piracy Operations, care of Cablevision, my Internet service provider. It said that they knew I had downloaded a movie, namely "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," to which Universal Studios, an NBC Universal subsidiary, owns the rights.
They advised me to "stop this infringing activity" and then more or less send them an update on my progress of deleting my p2p or torrent downloading software and getting on the straight, narrow copyright-respecting path. All I could think about was how many ways I could tell NBC Universal to kiss my ass.
So I sent them this letter.
Dear Aaron,
Thank you for the notice about my "internet piracy" activity. I have been downloading media on a very small and personal scale for years now and never thought about what it had been doing to the people who owned the material. I took a long hard look at why I download your corporation's copyrighted material and came to this conclusion.
You brought it on yourselves.
It's true. You really don't have anyone else to blame but yourselves for people downloading your movies and TV shows. Yes, we know you're responsible for movie masterpieces like the "Back To The Future" trilogy and "Schindler's List" but no one is innocent, my NBC Universal friends. The mere fact that some of the things you've produced even exist just sadden my heart to the point where I no longer have the energy to spend time with Mikey, the 9-year-old orphan with a lazy eye and a heart of gold that I sponsor in my free time. Because of this, Mikey is drawing frowny faces with the three- day-old mashed potatoes he is given during dinnertime at the orphanage. Congratulations NBC Universal, you have succeeded in making an orphan cry. But let's not dwell on poor Mikey and the fact that the other children shun him because of his chronic lice problem; let's instead look at the projects you've released in the past. . .
The other day I got a letter from Aaron Markham, director of Internet Anti-Piracy at NBC Universal Worldwide Anti-Piracy Operations, care of Cablevision, my Internet service provider. It said that they knew I had downloaded a movie, namely "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," to which Universal Studios, an NBC Universal subsidiary, owns the rights.
They advised me to "stop this infringing activity" and then more or less send them an update on my progress of deleting my p2p or torrent downloading software and getting on the straight, narrow copyright-respecting path. All I could think about was how many ways I could tell NBC Universal to kiss my ass.
So I sent them this letter.
Dear Aaron,
Thank you for the notice about my "internet piracy" activity. I have been downloading media on a very small and personal scale for years now and never thought about what it had been doing to the people who owned the material. I took a long hard look at why I download your corporation's copyrighted material and came to this conclusion.
You brought it on yourselves.
It's true. You really don't have anyone else to blame but yourselves for people downloading your movies and TV shows. Yes, we know you're responsible for movie masterpieces like the "Back To The Future" trilogy and "Schindler's List" but no one is innocent, my NBC Universal friends. The mere fact that some of the things you've produced even exist just sadden my heart to the point where I no longer have the energy to spend time with Mikey, the 9-year-old orphan with a lazy eye and a heart of gold that I sponsor in my free time. Because of this, Mikey is drawing frowny faces with the three- day-old mashed potatoes he is given during dinnertime at the orphanage. Congratulations NBC Universal, you have succeeded in making an orphan cry. But let's not dwell on poor Mikey and the fact that the other children shun him because of his chronic lice problem; let's instead look at the projects you've released in the past. . .
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