The ethics of buying bootlegged DVD's

Ask Gothamist on the ethics of buying bootlegged DVD's. I agree with this analysis for the most part, however, I must suggest that the connection between the criminals that bootleg en mass and terrorism against the US is tenuous and not supported by any study or government report I have seen. I have read several articles in the media that make such a claim, but often without any support. Obviously it is in the interest of the copyright industry to hype-up such a connection, and so while I do not know whether the claim is true or not, I view it with scepticism. I'm no conspiracy theorist, but if I were Jack Valenti or the RIAA I would be directly connecting bin Laden to bootlegging gangs because it will encourage the US government to direct their attention to the problem of bootlegging, which certainly costs the copyright industries billions in losses every year. Whether funneling money to terrorists or not, bootlegging infringes on copyright and is a serious crime.

I don't get to link to Gothamist often because it generally doesn't have posts relevant to the subject matter of this blog, but I do so with pleasure on this rare occasion. Gothamist is an award winning blog about what's happening in the center of the universe, my home and Gothamist's - New York City. They are expanding and now have a Gothamist Weather blog, an advice blog called Ask Gothamist, and a series of interviews with interesting New Yorkers at Gothamist Interview.

I have no idea how they have so much time to run an amazing blog and hold down jobs. Perhaps I will go to NY Bloggers Meet tonight and ask the panda obsessed Jen Chung, the editor of Gothamist. [Note: Here I wrote that perhaps The DaVinci Code would be worth reading because of all the hype. But Jen Chung reviews it here and didn't think so. Oh well.]