Does the hunt on piracy piss off anyone else here?

[ZeroAX]

Does the hunt on piracy piss off anyone else here?

What I mean is this.

Piracy is wrong, but still it's not really stealing a physical item or money from the one it belongs to. Meaning when you pirate a song/movie/game it's not like someone really has something taken from them. Yeah they don't make the money they would if you actually bought the item, but still, most pirated downloads are from people leaving in Russia China and other countries like that, where a game costs months of salaries and it's kind of stupid to expect people to give so much money for a game.


Anyway I was trying to make a point. You see large corporations hunting down people who host a torrent site. And they do that with the help of the police. So let me get this straight. Instead of going after terrorists, murderers and other dangerous criminals, the police spends their time hunting down people who download data that doesn't belong to them?

No freaking way I agree with this. The police force is a public protection force. Every legal citizen has the right of their protection. And when lives are being threatened by criminals/terrorists everyday you can't tell me that their time is being wasted on securing bigger bonuses for corporation heads.


Now I know piracy is bad for the economy as well because less sales means less jobs means less taxes, but even when things are going great, we see that big stock owners prefer to sacrifice 1000 jobs and 1000 families instead of a dent in their bonus.

And imo they shouldn't be doing that using the police who has the duty of protecting the basic wage person as much as the business man.

If you want to hunt down pirates you have the right to do that. But hire a private agency and when you have the names and the evidence take them to the police and have them arrest them.




But as I said when there are real threats to innocent human lives out there you can't have the police chasing teens who pirate mp3s and games.

At least that's how I feel.


A few notes before anyone attacks me. I buy original games, not download copies. I don't download movies I go and watch them at the cinema even if the ticket costs 9€ a piece. So I'm not on the illegal side of this argument. I just think the police should be protecting me when I go out at night instead of hunting people who are not that big a threat to society.

[kgcarini]

Does the hunt on piracy piss off anyone else here?

What I mean is this.

Piracy is wrong, but still it's not really stealing a physical item or money from the one it belongs to. Meaning when you pirate a song/movie/game it's not like someone really has something taken from them. Yeah they don't make the money they would if you actually bought the item, but still, most pirated downloads are from people leaving in Russia China and other countries like that, where a game costs months of salaries and it's kind of stupid to expect people to give so much money for a game.


Anyway I was trying to make a point. You see large corporations hunting down people who host a torrent site. And they do that with the help of the police. So let me get this straight. Instead of going after terrorists, murderers and other dangerous criminals, the police spends their time hunting down people who download data that doesn't belong to them?

No freaking way I agree with this. The police force is a public protection force. Every legal citizen has the right of their protection. And when lives are being threatened by criminals/terrorists everyday you can't tell me that their time is being wasted on securing bigger bonuses for corporation heads.


Now I know piracy is bad for the economy as well because less sales means less jobs means less taxes, but even when things are going great, we see that big stock owners prefer to sacrifice 1000 jobs and 1000 families instead of a dent in their bonus.

And imo they shouldn't be doing that using the police who has the duty of protecting the basic wage person as much as the business man.

If you want to hunt down pirates you have the right to do that. But hire a private agency and when you have the names and the evidence take them to the police and have them arrest them.




But as I said when there are real threats to innocent human lives out there you can't have the police chasing teens who pirate mp3s and games.

At least that's how I feel.


A few notes before anyone attacks me. I buy original games, not download copies. I don't download movies I go and watch them at the cinema even if the ticket costs 9€ a piece. So I'm not on the illegal side of this argument. I just think the police should be protecting me when I go out at night instead of hunting people who are not that big a threat to society.

You contradict yourself a couple times.
Piracy is stealing.
Stealing is WRONG!

Piracy = Stealing = Wrong = Arrest

[nightwalker]

dont get me wrong piracy is stealing. But in part Im with him there are more important stuff wrong in the world but like always the one that affects our pockets (Im including myself) thats the thing that we pay more attention to. Example of it here where I live we have more criminality than new york and this freakin island is like a 1000 times smaller than new york and they kill or steal everyday. But not one or two I mean 7 or 8 people die on a day by day basis and robbery I dont want to go there. The goverment is just paying attention to the people that have a business and dont disclosure their earnings (under the table like they say).

[Niode]

[Frag Mortuus]

Im on the fence about the subject. I dont like the fact that movie starts and musicians make millions and millions of dollars per movie/ tour/ album, while the teachers, law enforcement, and military get paid pennies in comparison.

I have never pirated games, but I did download movies and music. My justification was that if I rented a movie then the movie studios werent getting my money anyway, so I would download it and if I liked it I would go buy it. I cant tell you how many movies I bought after downloading them. The music industry is another story. I am very passionate about music and I absolutely hate the recording industry. They lie, cheat and steal from the artists to such an extent that downloading MP3s doesnt even compare to. I used the validation that there is no difference between buying a used copy of a cd versus downloading. The record company wont see any money either way. Now, mind you that the artists get very little money from the actual album sales. Most of their money comes from tours and licensed merchandise, and I got to about 8 or so concerts a year and pretty much every t-shirt I own (which is quite a few) is from a concert. So the artists are still getting their money from me.

I only quit downloading movies and music when I got a Cease and Desist letter from my cable provider.

On the other side of the argument, would I want people getting a piece of art that I have worked so hard on for free, when I could be getting paid for all of my creativity and hard work. Probably not.

[Anayo]

I try to buy stuff legit. My rationale is that if I'm ever in a position where I've created a work that I want money for, I don't want people to steal from me.

Games I usually get used games. My rationale is that part of the implied value of a $60-$50 game is that you can get some of it back by reselling it.

As for movies, I watch new films by going to the theater or renting from Blockbuster. Old movies I go to a thrift store and find a VHS tape laying around. I borrow a lot of stuff from the library as well.

The exception I make is with old ROM's, especially for games that are ridiculously expensive in their original form and haven't necessarily been re-released. Snatcher and MUSHA come to mind.

[Japhei]

This has been a touchy subject for a long time. First off My name is Japhei and most people know me for being a pirate. Lets examine that for a minute. As a member of Echelon and Kalisto when I worked for Babbages , Software ETC and eventually Gamestop. I would take home games sometimes before release rip them and provide them to people to download on the internet. Probally around 1000 retail rips exist online because of me. I took this one step further by buying new Neo Geo MVS kits and using my Xeltek EPROM programmer to dump said Neo Geo MVS games which were then added to unofficial MAME, Nebula or Final Burn emulators. Once again showing the power of the hacking I released unreleased Neo Geo Prototype games as well. After finishing my rape of the Neo Geo I then moved on to CPS2 where I aquired every CPS2 game known to man and dumped everyone. Flash Forward to 2010. I have aquired a image of every Taito Type X 1 and 2 game and have images of every HDD. Now that Blazblue CS is out and about and companies are aware of it. I have the full catalogue of Type X games just waiting to hit the mass send button out to the waiting public.

My question is this. When the game breaks or the HDD drive fails or a game disc is too scratched to run anymore what do you?

Some people call it piracy I call it preservation. Thats why when a Image is released online PIRATES say it is for backup purposes only. The little loop hole that keeps us out of trouble.

See I can dump and image as many games as I want and when the FED's or whoever kicks in my door. I will pick up a original copy and claim that it was for use to backup a ORIGINAL title.

If anything people should be thankful there are others willing to spend money on their work. Shit I can tell you right now I would not be into Shmups nearly as much if it was not for MAME.

I think when people get to experience something on their own and can appreciate it enough. They are more willing to put the money out there on it knowing they are paying for a solid product. So in a way its a double edged sword.

[jp1]

This is a stupid banner.

Many people most certainly would download a car. Especially if it wasn't taking the physical object from someone else. In fact, more people would download a car than are downloading movies/games/music combined.

The banner should read..."You couldn't download a car"

Also, I agree that it is a ridiculous waste of resources to hunt down and arrest these people. Let the manpower go to more important use like catching murderers and rapists. This debate is always black and white and nobody ever considers the extent of how much this is "hurting" the people that are being stolen from. Sure, it is wrong but it isn't as important as other issues. The money that is being spent to fight piracy could probably feed half of the worlds starving population. Musicians and movie stars make more money today than they ever have. Software is another case altogether but still it isn't as important as they make it.

The reason that piracy is such a hot issue and buckets of money and resources are thrown at it all the time is that the movie/music/software companies are making huge "contributions" (bribes) to the lawmakers to get what they want. It has nothing to do with right and wrong.

[J T]

I"m an undercover cop. You are all under arrest.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

My question is this. When the game breaks or the HDD drive fails or a game disc is too scratched to run anymore what do you?

Some people call it piracy I call it preservation. Thats why when a Image is released online PIRATES say it is for backup purposes only. The little loop hole that keeps us out of trouble.

See I can dump and image as many games as I want and when the FED's or whoever kicks in my door. I will pick up a original copy and claim that it was for use to backup a ORIGINAL title.

I can see what you're saying, but that's not exactly how backups work.

Stuff like backing up carts and HDD's of games is actually illegal as it must be reverse engineered to back-up the media. Making an iso of a disc is legal, but it can only be copied once and must be destroyed immediately if the original is sold/broken/lost/etc...

Still, though I like owning a retail legit copy myself preferably new or used if it's no longer available new or unavailable new at a reasonable price. It's just how I was raised.