Some of these tech news outlets never cease to surprise me. The latest example? Ars Technica’s little “hands-on” with ZML, the clearly illegal (at least here in the US) movie download site. Essentially by posting this, Ars just committed piracy for all to see.
I’m sure the MPAA is just loving this.
Why do I have a problem with this? It’s simple. Regardless of the need to be “first,” journalists are to set an example for their readers. This includes not encouraging illegal activities. By blogs and news sites like Ars saying “hey, look how easy it is to download Walk the Line!” we become part of the problem.
Regardless what we think of DRM (I hate it), there is still the rule of law. We do not need to be breaking it in order to write a story. Let users find out for themselves about the site. We don’t need to be showing them how to use it.
