Cleaning house

So..........

I've given this some thought before posting this out here in the open. I didn't consult a lawyer first. Who knows, maybe this is a bad idea, but I'm gonna put my Faith in God that sharing this with the public at large is of more good than hiding it would be.

I guess I'll start with what I think is the more "common" thing people do.

I had a TON of mp3s from CDs I don't own. I deleted those mp3s earlier tonight. ALL of them.

I have an iTunes account and tomorrow I'll be buying music there. I'll also be making mp3s of the few CDs I actually do own. All the music I listen to at home and in my car will be music that I have compensated the artists for. And that is the right thing to do.

So, continuing on here...

I had a BUNCH of movies I didn't own - copies, on a computer, waiting to be watched. Now I honestly DO own a ton of DVDs and Blurays, so I have compensated a lot of people for movies I like, but the point here is - for all the ones I hadn't bought, I was effectively stealing money from the people that worked on the movies.

And, I had a LOT of software on my computers that I hadn't purchased.

I have now deleted all of that, purchased legitimate copies of the software I need, and reinstalled everything from scratch on my computers.

It took me a while to get the nerve to do this, but I eventually got there.

Technology these days makes it so easy. Too easy. Using technology, it is possible to steal pretty much any song anyone has ever made, any movie ever made, and any software that exists for computers. You can do this from the privacy of your own home and while it is POSSIBLE to be caught, it isn't very likely.

During the course of my journey, I have come to realize the hypocrisy of trying to tell my children not to steal while I steal from others myself. At first, I tried to justify it to myself. I tried to think of ways I could explain it to my kids.

For some reason, for me, picturing what it would be like to be a child having their parent "explain" to them why it was ok to steal software (or movies, or music) just makes it SO clear. How is that child going to feel about their parent?

I mean SURE, kids love free things, and what kid isn't going to like free music and movies? Is that what we want as parents? To teach our children selective right and wrong? To actually ENDORSE outright theft of things like music just because "it's cool"?

I've decided I don't want to be "that" parent. So I'm cleaning house.