Does the hunt on piracy piss off anyone else here?

[Erik_Twice]

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.

Erm. Research before you speak.

Did you know that if you rent movies you have to ask for permission (=money) to the creators? Libraries are similar. However there are not lots of cases concerning this.

http://itlaw.wikia.com/wiki/Hotaling_v. ... Day_Saints

[Inazuma]

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.

Let's compare stealing and piracy for music.

Stealing
Joe takes a music cd off the shelf at Best Buy and walks out of the store without paying for it. Best Buy no longer has that music cd.

Piracy
Joe sits at his computer and downloads music mp3's off the internet. That music cd is still sitting on the shelf at Best Buy.

Did you spot the difference? If not, go back and read again.

[J T]

I have a love/hate relationship with pirates. I don't like the fact that they are making it more difficult for a person or company to make money through being an entertainer or game developer. I agree that piracy should be illegal, except perhaps for older material that nobody is publishing anymore. Perhaps things need to gain something like 'public domain' status a little earlier.

The upside of pirates though is that they have dragged big business kicking and screaming into the digital era. Record companies have had to smarten up to figure out how to make money with MP3s because the pirates did it better. Also, it's nice to know that if my original copy has a problem, I can almost always find a pirated copy out there and not have to worry about repurchasing the same product.

What really bothers me about the fight against piracy is not so much that they are taking legal action against pirates. That's just to be expected. What bothers me is the crap that good paying customers have to put up with because these companies want to pirate-proof their products. To play a PC game, I shouldn't have to have the Disc in the drive to be checked. I shouldn't have to log in online to verify myself as the owner. I shouldn't have to install some crappy anti-piracy program that takes up space on my harddrive, and in some instances interferes with my computers functionality. I hate this DRM stuff. Their DRM is supposed to stop piracy, but it makes me want to become one so I don't have to deal with all this crap just to play the game I paid for. That's why I love gog.com so much- NO DRM!

[Anapan]

This world is corrupt! Piracy is running rampant! We'll start by punishing that guy right there.

[aaron]

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.

Let's compare stealing and piracy for music.

Stealing
Joe takes a music cd off the shelf at Best Buy and walks out of the store without paying for it. Best Buy no longer has that music cd.

Piracy
Joe sits at his computer and downloads music mp3's off the internet. That music cd is still sitting on the shelf at Best Buy.

Did you spot the difference? If not, go back and read again.

this is a very elementary way of looking at the issue. let's try this:

Stealing
Joe takes a music cd off the shelf at Best Buy and walks out of the store without paying for it. Best Buy no longer has that music cd. This enrages Best Buy because they have paid the copyright owner already for the resale of the cd and now cannot recoup their losses.

Piracy
Joe sits at his computer and downloads music mp3's off the internet. That music cd is still sitting on the shelf at Best Buy. Joe has now obtained the grand majority of the product sitting at Best Buy without paying for it, thus he has not paid for the legal right to own/listen to that music.


in your first example, joe has stolen from best buy. in the second example, joe is stealing from the copyright holder. it's not as cut and dry as you'd like to make it out to be. just because you don't think it's the same as stealing doesn't mean that a court will agree with you.

how is this hard for you to understand? honestly? i can be condescending when making a point, too. except, in this case, i am actually right.

[J T]

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.

Let's compare stealing and piracy for music.

Stealing
Joe takes a music cd off the shelf at Best Buy and walks out of the store without paying for it. Best Buy no longer has that music cd.

Piracy
Joe sits at his computer and downloads music mp3's off the internet. That music cd is still sitting on the shelf at Best Buy.

Did you spot the difference? If not, go back and read again.

You're right, they are different. But in both cases you got a product without paying for it, despite the fact that the owners of the product only intended to let you have it if you paid for it. The information on the disc is the product being sold, not so much the disc itself. The disc is just a means for delivering that information that you are buying.

[aaron]

You're right, they are different. But in both cases you got a product without paying for it, despite the fact that the owners of the product only intended to let you have it if you paid for it. The information on the disc is the product being sold, not so much the disc itself. The disc is just a means for delivering that information that you are buying.

GOD DAMN, THANK YOU. someone get it.

[Niode]

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.

I'm pointing out the differences on a physical level not a legal level. I said I'm not debating whether or not piracy should be illegal.

[enderfall]

I'm in the anti-piracy crowd, but I don't ever think you'll be able to convince a pirate to change their ways. Bottom line is this, you are NOT entitled to something just because it is available to you (i.e. - it's already distributed online). Nor are you anymore entitled to it because others do it. It is wrong, period.

No matter how you slice it, you are getting something for nothing which is against the law. Call it stealing, piracy, whatever. You are taking something that is not yours by downloading it. PERIOD!

And stop with the crusade that there are more important things to do than hunt down pirates. Piracy is illegal so the law needs to be enforced, no matter how inane you think it is.

/rant

[Pulsar_t]

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

Felt like posting that.. Apologies etc.