Here the future is past
In May, The DaVinci Code will hit cinemas all over the world. But in the 3W® the future... is past.
Everything is ready except for one minor detail. Here in the third world, 3W® in branding terms, The DaVinci Code has already been released. Not the premiere but the DVD version of the film, which is usually released later to the "American Public" once the cinema ticket counters have been exhausted.
This shot was taken last week, during Easter, on a street in Cuenca, my hometown in the middle of the Andes. A street vendor placed all his DVD titles on the sidewalk. Movies in DVD format or "in format" as they refer to them, cost 2 bucks. Video CDs sell for 1 buck. They are everywhere, available to anyone who can afford a DVD player and 2 bucks of fun. This is also true for any software that you can think of. Same case for music.
Is this fair trade? Is it justice for being exploited in other ways? Then you have high-tech people in Asia working around the clock to come up with equally high-tech solutions to avoid piracy. Who will win in the end? Is copying and distributing movies illegally a form of capital communism?
We can buy pirated movies before they are released in the theaters here in New York too. As someone who does creative work for a living, I don't think selling these videos is "fair trade" nor can it be considered "justice for being exploited in other ways." It's wrong to steal other people's work and make money off it. Even if they have gobs of money already.