Does the hunt on piracy piss off anyone else here?

[ieatramen]

Yeah it's a big waste of money, but if piracy was ignored so they could focus on really really bad guys, wouldn't that be selective justice? I'm less pissed that our government spends, perhaps, too much of my moola fighting piracy as i am that it is willing to fork out $2.5 million for a super bowl commercial: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/me ... ion=recent

[Inazuma]

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

Piracy = Stealing = Wrong = Arrest

Another person who doesn't understand the definitions of words. Stealing and piracy are not the same thing. Stealing is when you actually take something from another person, and they no longer have it. Piracy is when you download a digital copy of something, illegally.

The hunt on piracy pisses me off because they sometimes sue people who wouldn't have bought their products anyway. Sometimes I will download a movie that I would have never paid to see normally. If I were to get sued over this and ordered to pay 100k in fines, who is the real criminal here?

Plus, the punishment for piracy is often far greater than the crime commited. For example, someone who downloads 25 mp3s could be fined half a million dollars. If the punishments were at least somewhat fair, it wouldn't be as bad. Even though shoplifting from a brick and mortar store is worse than illegally downloading, the punishment is nothing compared to piracy. It doesn't make any sense.

[coloradog1]

I think people who justify pirating are basically choosing what laws are okay to follow and which are not. Just because you don't agree with a law doesn't make it okay to break it.

I believe pirating=stealing, even if the true dictionary definition makes them different. Pirating a game/movie/music is no different then going to Wal-Mart and stealing a physical copy of the item.

And the comments about the punishment not fitting the crime are ridiculous too. Look at Michael Vick's crime and punishment versus Dante Stallworth's. Most people agree Dante Stallworth's crime was much more serious yet his punishment was nothing compared to Vick's.

[aaron]

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

Piracy = Stealing = Wrong = Arrest

Another person who doesn't understand the definitions of words. Stealing and piracy are not the same thing. Stealing is when you actually take something from another person, and they no longer have it. Piracy is when you download a digital copy of something, illegally.

that digital copy of something is protected by a copyright, which you are ignoring by downloading as you please. someone owns that copyright, or more specifically, the copyright to that particular piece of music or game. a copyright grants someone the right to reproduce, license, or otherwise "copy" that particular piece of music or software, so in effect, piracy (specifically software, music, or media piracy, not high seas plunder) IS stealing since you are taking away the right to reproduce this copy and thus garner the profits from that reproduction or license, which does indeed belong to someone else. at least, legally.

in short, i am telling you to shut the fuck up and stop pretending like you know everything.

[Niode]

I think people who justify pirating are basically choosing what laws are okay to follow and which are not. Just because you don't agree with a law doesn't make it okay to break it.

I believe pirating=stealing, even if the true dictionary definition makes them different. Pirating a game/movie/music is no different then going to Wal-Mart and stealing a physical copy of the item.

And the comments about the punishment not fitting the crime are ridiculous too. Look at Michael Vick's crime and punishment versus Dante Stallworth's. Most people agree Dante Stallworth's crime was much more serious yet his punishment was nothing compared to Vick's.

I hate to agree with Inazuma but he's actually right for once. Piracy IS NOT the same as stealing a physical copy of a DVD from a store.

Let me put it simply. I'll use the money laundering analogy here. If you launder money you are doing the same as piracy. You aren't robbing a bank (IE Stealing) you're copying an existing bank note and passing it off as legit. This is COMPLETELY different from stealing. You aren't stealing anything, merely copying and reproducing.

Edit: I'm not debating the legality of this.

[Erik_Twice]

The hunt on piracy pisses me off because they sometimes sue people who wouldn't have bought their products anyway.

The question is. Won't they?

I mean,you didn't have their permision to use their product, why should you ignore the creators and use it anyways? If you didn't like it then why the hell did you pirate it? It's like saying "nah I didn't like to have sex with her" after fucking the girl 2139048 times. Hypocrital.

And why would I bother to create music if you are not going to pay me for it? Do you think Valve is going to make games for free? How are they going to eat then?

Pirating is relying on honest consumers to achieve something without compensating the hard work of the creators. Don't be hypocrital, accept that you are doing a wrong.

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.

It's hipocrital. Preventing rich people from getting money is as bad as preventing your average guy to get money. You also forget that in the capitalists economy we live in means that people getting money means the society gets money too.

If you couldn't make millions of dollars per movie why would you even try to? It's much more confortable to do nothing or do it for yourself.


And this "they should catch the bad guys instead". First of all you can do both. Secondly, you are the bad guys too. Even if you aren't as bad as other people you are still preventing the good workign of the society.

It's a false dichotomy. You can do both. Unless you think that fining illegally parked cars is both irrelevant and what prevents the police from capturing dangerous criminals.


Also some people try to excuse themselves by saying "But, if they pirate and like it they might buy some copies". You are telling the creator to stop complaining because he is stupid and should accept your way of profiting from his work.

I mean, you are telling the creator how he should be payed for his job while you are the ones getting a benefit from him without giving him anything.

[ZeroAX]

[aaron]

I hate to agree with Inazuma but he's actually right for once. Piracy IS NOT the same as stealing a physical copy of a DVD from a store.

Let me put it simply. I'll use the money laundering analogy here. If you launder money you are doing the same as piracy. You aren't robbing a bank (IE Stealing) you're copying an existing bank note and passing it off as legit. This is COMPLETELY different from stealing. You aren't stealing anything, merely copying and reproducing.

Edit: I'm not debating the legality of this.

piracy is stealing, by legal definition. why is this so difficult to understand? is it because people want to justify it in some way? just come to terms with it, i download shit all the time and don't feel bad.

and how can you not debate the legality of it? the legality of it is what determines whether or not you get caught and go to jail for it. it is simply illegal. either come to terms with it or don't do it.

[Anapan]

Is there really a hunt on piracy? If there is, it's not been very successful so-far... Sure a few websites have gone down, and tons of automated emails have been sent out (even a few professionally written ones by real lawyers), but mostly it seems to be a media hype thing. Since I don't watch much TV, I haven't seen or heard much about this piracy hunt. I certainly haven't seen any signs of piracy slowing down, in fact it seems to be more popular than ever. Sure there a lot of people who don't like it, but there doesn't seem to be a good way to actually stop it because of the way the internet is built. If I were so inclined I could easily download some games, tv shows and movies today that I couldn't find online when they were released years ago despite searching for hours on end.
For the record, it takes a lot to piss me off. I'm in a pretty good mood right now.

[AmishSamurai]

What pisses me off more is that instead of something reasonable, the RIAA decides to single out random people and slam on them fines of six or seven figures they know they'll never be able to pay, to "make examples of".

If sharing intellectual property is so bad, why aren't they attacking libraries? I can assure you the people checking those books out don't own them, the filthy criminals.