The only people who aren’t benefiting from it are the fat cats up in Hollywood’s production studios. They’re making most of the money off of films. Not the artists behind the projects. The big time producers.
And, okay, when I want to see a painting done by, say, Pablo Picasso, I don’t have to pay Pablo Picasso every time I want to see an image of it, do I?
No, I can google “Guernica” and there it is. And I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m not claiming any rights to it. I’m not making any money off of it. I’m just viewing.
But…when I download a movie, which I am just viewing, not making any money off of or claiming any right to…suddenly that’s wrong?
Are films not art anymore? What makes them any different from downloading a picture of a painting onto my desktop, just to view?
The problem is, the MPAA and all these production companies who are pissed off about ~pirating aren’t seeing films as art anymore - they’re seeing them as a means of revenue. And as an aspiring filmmaker, that makes me very, very pissed off.