Comments on: Scurvy Ridden One Eye’d Thieves!

By: Scott

Scott — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 02:34:05 +0000

Personally, I don’t even see an ethical dilemma here. For there two be a “dilemma,” there must be two opposing but valid ethical arguments. However, stealing intellectual property is just wrong. I don’t lend out, let alone give away copies of, my magic DVDs for just that reason.

I remember back in 2003-2004 there was some talk about exempting resales of magic DVD’s from the “fair use” loophole in copyright law, which makes it OK to resell books and other media without a royalty to the copyright owner (unlike in some other parts of the world). The argument was that magic DVD’s are in a special class, because you’re really purchasing a secret. Well, that didn’t get picked up by Congress, so it’s legal to resell DVD’s, as long as you don’t keep the original or a copy. Anything more – pirate downloads, pirate copies, etc – is just theft, and is legally and ethically wrong.

By: OldZombie

OldZombie — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 07:16:53 +0000

@Chet, I agree this GMG hiatus has been too long. I have every episode on my ipod, its a good show, super force glass, 80% crap, hype of the week, I miss it all. That Osterlind 13 Step set looks very interesting. Im a big fan of Osterlind. Thats going on my Christmas list for sure.

By: Grandpa Chet

Grandpa Chet — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:13:20 +0000

You can find more about it here http://tinyurl.com/yllu2fm

By: Mathias

Mathias — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:11:55 +0000

I saw the 13 Steps-project mention somewhere (might have been in Genii). Must have been a fairly big project.

By: Grandpa Chet

Grandpa Chet — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:07:55 +0000

I’m looking forward to the Newswire interviews which Richard & Jim underwent yesterday. That’ll be fun, now that the stress (of the *13 Steps* DVDs project) is over.

By: Mathias

Mathias — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:48:18 +0000

On the topic of podcasts, my favourite site would have to be Magic News Wire. There's so many podcasts/interviews of magicians from the well-known from the up-and-coming. The latest one is with David Ben; haven't had a chance to listen to it yet but am sure it'll be great.

By: Grandpa Chet

Grandpa Chet — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:33:38 +0000

*sigh* It’s been on hiatus for several years now… I miss GMG! *sniff*

By: Jeff Stone

Jeff Stone — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:02:31 +0000

@OZ – Thanks for the info. I’ll have to check it out.

By: OldZombie

OldZombie — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:06:18 +0000

There is a pretty good podcast about magic called by Andrew Payne and Keith Barber “Go Magic Go” despite the lame name it is pretty good and one of the weekly topics in ethics in magic. I it currently on hiatus but there are over 100 episodes available for free on itunes. Other than the ethics discussions they have guests and do reviews and such, check it out.

By: Jeff Stone

Jeff Stone — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:10:23 +0000

I knew my Robin Hood comment was going to stir the pot a little. However I still stand by it. What’s the old adage? Two wrongs don’t make a right. Yes the King was a tyrant. However, he did “own” the land. He had the right to do what he wanted with the land.

The unfortunate thing about that is that there were good Kings and bad Kings. Either way, stealing from a King (a good one or a bad one) is still stealing, and thus Robin Hood is a Thief.