If prostitution was legalized

[Violet]

I am in favor of changing how things work. The current system stinks. There needs to be something though. The reason most people don't pirate under the current system is because it is illegal, and when things are illegal a lot of bad things come with that (like viruses)

Illegality doesn't stop prostitution (or frankly much at all). People don't pirate stuff because they are too *honest*. If they could get over themselves... they would be pirating things just like the rest of us.

While some people might support the artist, I believe that if piracy were illegal, it would kill artists, authors, creators, etc. Especially with digital materials. Why would you pay 10s or hundreds of dollars for software when you can go to a reputable free software distributor and get it completely legally?

I paid more than $200 to buy my Wild Arms music from japan. I'd had it for years. It's simple: people pay for what they like. We even donate.

Also, the deregulation of the arts allows people to use current art to make better art out of it. Hell, how do you think Hollywood even came into existence? The societal benefit of not having patents/copyright is massive, even *if* artists take a small hit. Frankly, your little dream that artists make squat is ridiculous, most writers are poor as are most musicians. A rare few copyright a piece of music that becomes a major hit and sells far and wide and giving them a decent (even rich) living wage. Frankly, they needn't have copyrighted it in the first place: they still would have made a very generous living wage.

Now don't come back until you've read the link I posted, from start to at least about midway. I know that *I* couldn't put it down