Ethics

The discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation
2 a: a set of moral principles : a theory or system of moral values —often used in plural but singular or plural in construction
b: plural but sing or plural in constr : the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group
c: a guiding philosophy
d: a consciousness of moral importance
3 plural : a set of moral issues or aspects (as rightness)
Ethics is a major branch of philosophy, encompassing right conduct and good life. It is significantly broader than the common conception of analyzing right and wrong. A central aspect of ethics is "the good life", the life worth living or life that is satisfying, which is held by many philosophers to be more important than moral conduct.

A basic set of eight such principles has been suggested by Resnik, David B.:
Non-malificence: Do not harm yourself or other people.
Beneficence: Help yourself and other people.
Autonomy: Allow rational individuals to make free and informed choices.
Justice: Treat people fairly: treat equals equally, unequals unequally.
Utility: Maximize the ratio of benefits to harms for all people.
Fidelity: Keep your promises and agreements
Honesty: Do not lie, defraud, deceive or mislead.
Privacy: Respect personal privacy and confidentiality.

I try to follow the above said principles in my life and happy to report that in my thinking I have been quite successful in doing so. Question though is how many people believe in these in today's world. In my experience, there are two principles which are surely ignored the most, Fidelity and Honesty. In my thinking Fidelity is a form of honesty, cause if you are not keeping your promises, well, you are lying! Many people just go ahead and say whatever comes to their mind to get out of sticky situation, some times even to demonstrate love or affection. Even though many religious texts and literature is full of examples of how sometimes lies or part lies are used to achieve a noble ending, I do not believe that is correct in any ways. Lie is a lie, avoid it as much as possible. I agree, its not easy to live an honest life in this 'Kali kaal' times but try as much as possible to not bend yourself to dishonesty.

Reminds me of really old Billy Joel's number
If you search for tenderness, it isn't hard to find.
You can have the love you need to live. But if you look for truthfulness
You might just as well be blind. It always seems to be so hard to give.

Honesty is such a lonely word. Everyone is so untrue.
Honesty is hardly ever heard. And mostly what I need from you.

The next question is obviously, WHY? Why should any one be ethically right? I have no answer to that. Religious answer that you'd go to hell or heaven depending on your acts in this birth is quite questionable and a matter of faith. I think that the only logical answer is that this is the correct way to lead a life in a society, to ensure that society raises its level of happiness and prosperity for its constituent and does not fall into lawlessness.

'Krazzy 4' case highlights Bollywood's copyright woes

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Entertainment/Krazzy_4_case_highlights_Bollywoods_copyright_woes/articleshow/2952337.cms

Well, by now everyone would have already read or heard about this case. This is my understanding, Rajesh Roshan, the music director of Krazzy 4 liked some parts of Sony Ericson's advt. and wanted to use it in his song. Roshans approached Sony Ericson and got a no-objection letter from them. Now the twist in the tale is that I believe that Sony Ericson has no right to the tune! yes thats another part of discussion as to why is that IPR is NOT with the buyer of services to render to advt but with the composer!! but we will come to that later. Thus the NOC given by Sony was not worth much but presumably unknown to Roshans who went about releasing the music and working towards releasing the movies. In the meanwhile, Ram Sampath who was the original composer decides to stick in a court case right at the time the movie is to be released and tries to get a stay on the movie. Roshans panic and pay like 2crores !!

Now here is MY opinion, without much 'law' knowledge, going by common sense and ethics, I would say that Ram Sampath has acted in a very unethical manner! This is surely obvious in the way he waited till the last moment to stick in the court case after about six weeks of release of movie's music! Also, IF he was indeed ethical he should have NOT accepted out of court settlement or may be not at the least the kind of money he took from Roshans. That was sure shot taking advantage of someone's weak position! The court case and the stay order was all over the news so courts would have delivered justice sooner or later but Ram Sampth taking money from Roshans showed his intent was not really to get justice on plagiarism, if he didn't have any clue about Sony Ericson's NOC; but plain unethical extortion of money!

Well, for this exact reasoning I am completely FOR, yes for, NOT having any copyrights at all. Logistically its next to impossible to track and most often than not the copyright owners decided on exorbitant value of their IPRs. Take for example the DVD releases, One can get DVD originals of older movies for like Rs 40, but for newer movies it can be anywhere between Rs200 to 500!! This shows lack of ethics in the entertainment industry itself! They want to take the public on a ride and exhort money for public's interests in the movies! Even after making like Rs 100crore plus on movies, they still want to price the DVDs steeply at Rs499! Then when the DVD gets rampantly copied and sold in secondary market, they sit and complain about piracy!! Well, my point is they deserve it! :-) :D

PS: One day I want to also write about lack of ethics in todays world. I seriously think that lack of ethics leads to lack of guilt and repetition of wrong doing and makes this world worse place to live in. I remember reading an article to that affect as well; hhmm another day I will surely write about that.

Calangute, Goa

I am happy to report back from a super trip of Goa!
Am I happy about getting back? naaaaaaaaah! I could spend my life in the beach shack! My retirement plans are changed now, any one wants shares of Moonie's beach shack in Goa?