Employers to be held accountable for piracy

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With the ever increasing bandwidth, albeit a painfully slow progress, available in SA, music and video piracy is spiralling rapidly out of control.

Piracy is theft; plain and simple. The shortcomings of the SAFACT campaign aside, we all know this to be the case as is it has been drummed into our heads forever - remember the "Home taping is illegal and is killing music" campaign of the 80s?

Creatives and suits alike moan all the time about not being paid enough for thier work. Agencies complain about clients stealing pitches on this very forum, so why should artists' product be consedered any differently? Ponder the chain of mouths that are being ripped off every time a track is stolen. It's a long one. From artist and family to studio staff, record company employees - top to bottom - cd shop staff, couriers, packaging and manufacturing concerns and even... GRAPHIC DESIGNERS and AD AGENCIES. One would have thought that the folks in this industry would take these matters to heart for this very reason.

If somebody creates something of value, and you would like to use it, a mutually benificial commercial deal is struck. Fair is fair.

Employers need to carefully monitor what thier staff are up to on thier lines in terms of this wholesale theivery lest they find themselves charged with being accesories to this, not so victimless, crime. Conviction rates are improving rapidly.

Would you continue to employ someone knowing that they steal on a regular basis? I wouldn't. Remember: Theft is a dismissable offence.

(Illegally) Downloading is a pretty word for a criminal offence. Let's call it what it is:

Theft.

[13 Feb 2006 14:10]