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this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2023
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Oyster pirates in the 19th century would land surrepititiously onto beaches at night and harvest oysters without license. It is from this use that media piracy emerged. Pirated oysters typically meant cheaper oysters at market so the resell and consumer sectors benefitted while the beach owners lost revenue.
Not sure if I've heard that suggested origin before, but it's still disingenuous propaganda. Electronic media is fundamentally a different concept where the "resource" is practically infinate.
Not to mention, copyright was a concession to encourage creative innovation in order to develop a robust public domain. Every extension of that temporary, every deflection of fair-use rights runs against that mission.
Like the buccaneers of the golden age preying on the Spanish silver train, media piracy plunders from ill-gotten gains, raiding the plunder of marauders.
I can't speak for the original intent of naming unlicensed sharing after mischief on the high seas, but even in its time it was the sensible alternative to abuses of the ratings by English aristocracy. In the golden age, it was even then preying on plutocrats and imperialists, and it was romanticized, even if only in fiction, long before the term was applied to copyright infringement or media inspiring knock-off content.
The precursor to copyright was the state banning books deemed to contain "dangerous" knowledge. The state limitting distribution may have encouraged invention sometimes but moreso it appeases the big keys to power. A trading card game for big business does not justify the concession. Let's not pretend there are no gains to be made without imposing artificial scarcity.