I'll tell you a funny story.

I touched on it earlier, actually.

I was on the anti-piracy panel at the GayVN retreat and told people that I was a paid member of Sean Cody but that I was unable to view the content because I have a mac. For that reason, I would go to torrent sites and download it but I still paid for my membership.

His lawyer threatened to sue me (in front of the rather confused audience) for stealing the content.

I find it funny that the lawyer's solution was to sue a paying member who had been reduced to finding alternate means of viewing the content he paid for since the site's method of delivery wasn't working.

I pointed out that..

a) It's not "stealing" if you pay for it.

b) It's obvious that the DRM protection isn't protecting shit if I can download content within minutes of it being released to SeanCody.com anyway.

c) if there's a product that you're using that's not stopping pirates but stopping paid members, wouldn't the solution be to stop using the product and not sue customers who were forced to find alternate means to view the content?

(he whispered that he wasn't REALLY going to sue me. I looked at him with that "bitch please" look and said "I'll sleep easier tonight.")

members (rightly so) feel that they should be buying the content forever. If they buy the product on DVD, they'll have it forever, if they buy it on the web it should be no different. If YOU are placing restrictions on them and Rapidshare ISN'T, who you YOU think they're going to get their content from?