For the record, I do not, Not, NOT condone stealing content. For that matter, every byte of music, video, and podcast currently residing on my MP3 players is either free or has been paid for. Nor do I want to open the whole "situational ethics" can of fish-bait.
But.
What I do have a problem with is the double standard of "accountability" in our culture. Particularly when those who profit most from criminal behavior can hide behind a corporate shield when petty criminals don't have that luxury. But I'm riled most especially when that double standard highlights how much [cough] "justice" [cough] deep pockets will buy in a country where we are all--so the conjecture goes--created equal.
Exhibit A: In February of last year, thirteen employees of Imperial Sugar died in an explosion which injured forty of their co-workers--three of whom were in the burn ward months later. OSHA imposed an 8.7 million dollar fine (which the company is contesting) for safety violations dating back six years. Were we to discount the wounded who may spend the rest of their lives disabled and/or disfigured by corporate greed, $8.7 million divided by thirteen dead works out to just under $670,000 per human life. Keep in mind that the fine goes to the government, not to anyone actually affected. The bereaved are left to bury their dead and the injured are left to heal on their own dime while those responsible devote their resources to whittling down the fine by way of the appeals process.
Exhibit B: Contrast that with the $80,000 per song in last week's Jammie Thomas verdict and you see why I'm furious--and why I strongly think that you should be, too. Ms. Thomas (now Thomas-Rassert) stole 24 songs from the major labels. By the math of OSHA fines and the RIAA jury verdict, one human life is worth approximately 8.37 songs. That works out to something less than a CD, at least in this day and age. (The 1980s? Meh, maybe not so much, when you had to factor in the extended--a.k.a. "dance" versions of the stuff you heard every hour in the Top 40 wasteland in which I grew up.)
Now, like I said, I'm not gonna go skippin' down the path of moral relativism. But you know what? I don't have to. Such messed-up priorities should speak for themselves, once you punch a few numbers into a calculator.
