I am an internet pirater.

andthenisay:

Yes. I am an internet pirater. I illegally download movies and films on the regular. I AM AN INTERNET PIRATER.

This is my DVD collection:

If you think that everyone who’s ever downloaded something from the internet is doing so to avoid paying for products, or to stick it to the man, or to flaunt the system, you’re wrong. The reason I downloaded a cam version of STXI was so I could watch it over and over again. Because I loved it. Enough to see it in the theaters three times and buy it on DVD as soon as it came out.

I understand that it’s a complicated issue. I understand that money made off of pirating goes to pay for shitty things sometimes. Maybe the ad sales from places like Megaupload are going to shady people. So police the people Megavideo is selling ad space to.

To categorically state that people who pirate are bad people with no morals is false. It’s fervor, not felony. I don’t want to wait until months later to rewatch things I loved, but damn if I won’t buy them legally when I have the chance. And if I have the chance. I don’t look down on people who don’t have ridiculous collections like mine. The fact that they own the things I own and didn’t pay for it bothers me none at all. 

The world of downloadable media is not a zero-sum game.

For the record, putting two people who are unable to pass up cheap DVDs into the same apartment… AWESOME.  And to add to Allison’s point: we bought a lot of these DVDs at full price, pre-ordered, back when box sets were big and usually $60.  Yes, some of them were cheap and on sale from Amazon, but the things we love: Whedon, West Wing, etc?  Shit, you guys, I must have spent SO MUCH MONEY on Buffy DVDs back in the day.