User blog:Nausiated/The ethics of downloading

About a week ago or so, I had finished going through pretty much every Timely Publication that was published in 1942 and added profiles for interesting characters and wrote issue summaries and uploaded pictures etc.

When the subject came up about how I was able to get the lion-share of the information I had available I had quipped "The Internet is a great library". Which it is. It is a wealth of information that is easily accessible if you know where you are looking.

Now a member of this wiki got all in a tiff about my comments. This individual -- who boasted about being a freelancer for Marvel (As if that made him an authority on anything) -- said I was despicable because I've downloaded some comics. Saying it hurts the industry, stops them from reprinting older material and, yes, it is technically illegal. However the way this person painted me was like I'm downloading everything there is to be had and never buying comics like some complete thief.

First of all, I will not be accused of something I'm not doing. Second of all, I won't put up to a posturing douche bag who throws an unimpressive title around who makes all sort of assumptions and does not see the context of my comments. Because you claim to be a freelancer for a comic does not impress me much, if you were John Romita Jr. talking to me, then okay there is some awe there. But if you were given an inking assignment on a freelance basis, as far as I'm concerned you are not speaking from a position of authority of privilege. Your opinions are about as valued to me as any other random person I come across on the internet. In fact, they are pretty much the grumbling of your average internet troll. I don't make a habit of feeding trolls as they are utterly narcissistic creatures who thrive on talking down to others in the most anonymous means possible while tossing around their meager accomplishments in life like they are a title to be revered. However, in this one case, I will indulge.

If you want to talk about ethics and where people are losing money. Let's talk about all those original creators. Carl Burgos, Bill Everett, and the like. When Marvel gets around to tracking down copies of these original comics and reproducing them. They're going to be recolored, restored, printed on some fine glossy paper and bound in a hard cover edition that will be worth about $80 USD. All those original creators who laid the groundwork on all these characters in the 1940's -- or their estates since most of them are dead now -- are never going to any money, or if by some miracle they do, it is going to be a mere pittance. Creator rights did not exist back then, and is still a relatively new concept. By buying these books I am making Marvel (and by an extension Disney) richer while the people who deserve some compensation for their works see none of it. So if you want to start at ethics, lets start at the ground up. I'm not saying people should go ahead and download whatever comics you want (don't) -- support the industry however you can with whatever you afford -- but if someone is going to argue with me about the ethics of stealing things instead of paying for it, Marvel Comics is not a saintly institution and a true artist would call what Timely and Atlas did back then stealing. The only reason why the industry now pays their creative staff better and gives them royalties (unless they're a freelancer like big mouth) is because big name creators got fed up and demanded more.

If Marvel paid their old creators what they are due from the material they created, the things like the Hero Initiative would not exist. While Marvel does contribute money into this fund it is still a mere drop in the bucket for what they owe these people. What really makes this fund work are primarily modern day creators, the independent presses that contribute to it ( and FANS who donate money into this fund for old writers and creators. I've made a contribution for the past five years whenever I can. Mr. "I Freelance for Marvel Comics", I would have to say that perhaps your arguments would get some credibility if you were to have ever donated to this fund. But here's something I'm not going to do: I'm not going to assume that you haven't, just because you haven't specified if you did or did not.

Now, that out of the way -- Why am I downloading comics? -- Mostly because of this site. I have an interest in all things Marvel, and I decided to take up the task of updating whatever possible. Some people are satisfied with updating random things here and there. Characters of interest. Current story lines. But this is an encyclopedia of EVERYTHING Marvel. For us to be *THE* source of information available on Marvel Comics there has to be those who are willing to go looking for information on everything. That takes research and I have become a researcher and contributor to this site and have been doing so for the past 5 years. Like any researcher, from a kid doing a project in school to a scientist trying to write a paper for a science periodical, RESEARCH is important. Now do most people go out and buy all the encyclopedias, reference books, and material they use as research material when they are writing their reports? No, of course not, that would be ridiculous. They go to the library. The fact is this: The sources of information they gather eventually goes back to it's original source (the library) when they are done.

Like a lot of researches I don't have a heck of a lot of money, and I don't think a single institution out there is going to loan me money to purchase comic books, nor do I think Marvel is going to open their vault of material for me to go through for free. Then there is also the issue of material that also has not been printed.

So where does that leave me? Right, the downloading thing.

Putting things into perspective: 99% of all the comics presently in my possession I have purchased. I have a good four book shelves crammed full of graphic novels, an 14 long boxes of single issues. All stories ranging from the 1960's to present. Marvel has, and always will get my pound of flesh when I go out and by comics. So it's not like I don't buy anything.

But if you want to get right down to the technicality: It's illegal to download something that has a copyright. However, there is a magical realm of "Fair Use" in copyright law, which is vague to begin with -- especially in light of the American Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 -- but essentially, if what I am doing is for educational purposes then, I'm not really breaking any laws. That's exactly what I am doing. In order to do my research for this site --which is above all for educational purposes --, I get the material I need, I read it, take notes grab the few still images I need and delete the comics when I am done. I am not hording years of comic books instead of purchasing them -- I am not distributing them to other people, and I am certainly not telling people to go out to look for them (or where to look for them) on this site or encouraging people to illegally download new comics.

That's akin to someone borrowing a book from the library, and bringing it back when your done. If I were borrowing a book from the library, photocopying all the pages and then handing them out to everyone that would be a different story.

At the end of the day, if you are going to download any vintage comic out there because you can't afford it, or for whatever reason you might have for downloading, then do the right thing and make a donation to the Hero Initiative (http://www.heroinitiative.org/) no amount is too small, you would be helping elderly and retired comic book creators who GET NOTHING in the form of retirement for work, many of them living off social security -- and not doing well by it either.