Reasons for piracy

[90sgamer]

This is just my opinion on the subject.

 

Piracy and stealing are no temptation to me.

Things that I did not work for myself have no value to me.

An open cash register drawer with no one looking does not interest me.

To use for myself something that someone else worked for only makes me ineffective.

I would not use anything form you guys without your consent because it has no value to me until you give it, you worked for it and should receive all glory from it, and I would pay you for it, because you deserve it.

 

John Galt said "I swear -- by my life and my love for it -- that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."

 

I am not perfect by any means... I have "sined" in this area many times in the past, I can give and do not attempt to justify my actions... they were wrong.

 

But I have not given up on giving every man his choice and the opportunity to benefit from his on work.

 

The pessimist says “The glass is half empty”

The optimist says “The glass is half full”

The objectivist says “I am still thirsty”

 

Thats a very mature view, and I agree with you. Unfortunately not all people are level 20 Paladins like us. Not that I am talking down to people that do torrent for various reasons, but I don't do it anymore myself and agree that acquiring something for free that I would have paid for just because I could is wrong. Although as a poor college student, it is tempting because I am strapped for cash at times. Then again its not like I NEED more things to distract me from studying.

Edited January 23, 2012 by 90sgamer

[VaporX]

I am not perfect by any means... I have "sined" in this area many times in the past, I can give and do not attempt to justify my actions... they were wrong.<br>

 

Demo3, you have described my position very well. I used to pirate a ton, I had a few gigs of music and a ton of movies and TV shows plus god forbid gigabytes of games. I was sitting there one day and my son asked me about stealing. It was not computer related or anything and to be honest I was not thinking of piracy as we talked. But as the saying goes, from the mouth of babes.

 

Later that day the conversation hit me and I took a long hard look at the software and other material I had on my PC. A realization hit me, I never used any of it. Oh I would download a game and play for a bit but then it would just sit there. I would listen to music once or twice but it would just sit there and the same with movies and TV shows. The stuff I did use regularly was really not all that expensive and there were lower cost alternatives if need be.

 

That day I literally formatted every HD I had and started clean. Since then I get my music from online radio stations or Pandora for little to no cost. I DVR shows when I can and when I cannot I use Hulu. For my movies I wait for them for rental or use Netflix for digital streaming. As for my games we live in a golden age thanks to STEAM. I can buy games cheap, never lose the media and there is also a wealth of free legal gaming options.

 

The side benefit is that my HD now has a lot more space as I use my computer leaner and meaner, which means I can get by on a 120 Gig SSD if I want.

 

The fault for piracy today sadly however is our own as a computing community. We allow this behavior to happen around us and do not call it out. Most people that pirate today are good people that really do not understand what they are doing because the computing world has not really called them out on it. Most people are reasonable and when you point out what they are doing they accept that it is wrong and a lot of them stop doing it when they learn of other alternatives that do not hurt their computing experience. We as a community need to call this out and educate people to this.

 

There will always be the small group that will try and justify their behavior and not come around but that has been the same in society for years. For some people stealing is not wrong or it is someone else's fault and they will not accept responsibility for their bad behavior.

 

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Edited January 23, 2012 by ComputerEd

[Waco]

how about a definition of property?

1.

a. Something owned; a possession.

b. A piece of real estate: has a swimming pool on the property.

c. Something tangible or intangible to which its owner has legal title: properties such as copyrights and trademarks.

d. Possessions considered as a group.

2. The right of ownership; title.

3. An article, except costumes and scenery, that appears on the stage or on screen during a dramatic performance

 

Even your example of embezzlement isn't stealing something physical these days.

Even taking that into account - how is downloading depriving someone of their property?

[scr4wl]

Even taking that into account - how is downloading depriving someone of their property?

 

IMO downloading (say a movie) is the same as stealing a movie from a store. This is what makes it theft.

 

If a film is pirated it is not just the movie company that loses money. The store from which the movie could have been bought also doesn't make money. Depending on when and how you pirate, the movie theatre from which the film could have been seen also doesn't make money.

 

In my honest opinion pirating is dead wrong and hurts more than just the "Greedy" movie companies. (I don't actually believe they are greedy)

 

I'm tempted to say that pirating hurts the economy as well, but as long as the $15 you would have spent stays in the US it really doesn't.

[Waco]

IMO downloading (say a movie) is the same as stealing a movie from a store. This is what makes it theft.

But it's not. Someone with no buying power (or no intent to buy whatsoever) is not depriving anyone of anything if they download something.

 

Now if Bill Gates pirates stuff...that's a bit different.

Edited January 23, 2012 by Waco

[Muchoman1]

Also remember,a few countries have declared pirating for personal use legal, so some governments seen to think otherwise about the whole pirating = stealing thing

[scr4wl]

But it's not. Someone with no buying power (or no intent to buy whatsoever) is not depriving anyone of anything if they download something.

 

The physical material the movie and its casing are made out of are worth what? $1

 

If someone was stealing for the physical material they could find it for free at a dump, on the side of a road, in their own trash can.

 

Stealing a physical copy and stealing a digital copy do the same amount of damage. I.E. property is wrongfully owned.

 

If someone is pirating something because they can't afford it, that doesnt make it right.

[Waco]

I'm not saying it makes it right - just that it's not similar to stealing in any way. Nobody is deprived of anything except in the case where someone could afford to actually buy the material in the first place AND had the intent to pay for it as well.

[scr4wl]

I guess for that point it would depend on the percentage of people thag pirate because they can't afford, and the people that pirate because they don't want to pay.

 

Everyone I know that pirates (almost everyone I know) pirates because they can, not because they can't afford it. One friend pirates just to fill up his hard drives, he doesn't even watch anything.

[DanTheGamer11]

I agree with Ed on some things, but for games you already own but can no longer use due to things like broken discs or Microsofts inability to properly cool its products, I believe is perfectly fine to do so

 

Cool what?

[Demo3]

Hmmm. Interesting

 

As I sit here at work every day I hear many fathers and mothers talk about there problems they have at home.

 

I also hear them boast about how when the cashier gave them $5 to much in change how good it made them feel, or how they got something on sale and returned it and got full price, or how they were speeding behind another car and how stupid they were because they got the ticket, they look over at there children and say "If that guys had been smart he would have been behind me". One of my favorite is a guy I work with that shops at REI. If you shop at REI you know that they have an unlimited, unconditional return policy, if you are at anytime unsatisfied with what you have bought then bring it back. Well he will buy a pair of hiking boots and ware them for several years then return them for a new pair. He boasted one day the he got a letter form REI saying that they were experiencing an unusual number of returns on his account. His fix for there problem was to change the return policy. I told him that peeps like him were the reason I could not afford to shop at REI.

When I was building my last computer, the one in my signature below, I... out of stupidity touched the CPU socket with my finger and ruined my $260 mobo . To tell you the truth my first thought was how do I get out of this without taking responsibility... the second thought was how do I tell my wife that I need to spend another $260 on my computer which already was nearing 2 grand. When I told her I just said Honey I just screwed up one of my computer parts and its going to cost $260 to get another one. She said if I would wait till tomorrow she would go with me... Micro Center is on the other side of Denver, One of they guys I work with said that he would have returned it and said it came that way. How G*** is a nice guy but would I give him a key to my house to feed the cat while I go on holiday.

 

I know this sounds like I am boasting, that I am better than anyone else and nobody can not live up to my standards, not that you really care and you really should not care what I think because I really don't care what you think of me, I don't want to be an butt or be one of those guys that just will say something to get an argument going... that serves not purpose. Who would I be if I patterned my life after what other people think of me.

Like... if one of you guys says do this to your build and you will get some kind of super something I say Hell yes I'll do it.

Like... if one of you guys said do to this site and get something for free that would cost you $ otherwise then I would not do that...

 

Like someone once said... I just don't roll that way.

 

OCC guys are a bunch of smart guys and gals and we can share our love of computer and tech... and Skyrim.

 

 

 

 

Did I forget to say Skyrim?

 

There is a discussion about the definition of legal property. I think I would define property as...

 

A piece of matter (anything having mass and or takes up space including digital space) or idea that is in the possession of a person and that person expects compensation for that matter or idea if transferred to or used by another.

If that matter or idea was not obtained by that person who holds it by the same rule as stated, then it would not be legal possession or property.

 

So it you buy matter or an idea at a legal price form a vender and you lose it or it becomes corrupted or you forget it. If the vender expects compensation for providing that software to you again then you must provide compensation to the vender, whatever that compensation might be.

 

I am not saying that you can not go to the vender and plead your case... I have done that many times with both positive and negative outcomes.

Edited January 23, 2012 by Demo3

[Silas13013]

I may have missed this in the thread but a couple of friends of mine had a discussion on piracy yesterday and one asked what the difference was between recording a movie on a DVR and transferring it to your hard drive (a feature my home DVR has) and keeping it forever, and downloading the exact same movie from the internet.

 

Could someone shed some light on this question?