Need some piracy advice....

[Jamash]

Anyway I need some advice, is their any system that I can report this to secretly? Cause I really think I need to make an example of him, and he is the kind of person that if he does it once an gets away wih it, he will do it again.

So fellow escapists any suggesions?

Since you're in the UK, there's the Federation Against Copyright Theft and the Federation Against Software Theft, both of which have channels to report things like this:

http://www.fact-uk.org.uk/

http://www.fastiis.org/

The second one (F.A.S.T.) has a button on the front page to report Software Piracy.

You can also report piracy by phoning Crimestoppers, according to the F.A.C.T. front page.

 

[Hazy992]

I don't get it. What is your reasoning behind not taking anything from me seriously anymore?

Because you said nothing is worse than a smoker, so I can't take anyone who makes such ridiculous statements seriously.

 

[Crazy Zaul]

Maybe Dovakiin was a better friend than the pirate?
What happens when the friend shouts YOOOOOOOL? Nothing? No fire? What good is he then!

But yer you should probably try to keep your IRL friends cos many people here don't have any.

 

[dobahci]

Wow, you disagree with something your friend did so you're going to try to get him into legal trouble to teach him a lesson? That is what we call a dick move. I suppose you also call the cops every time one of your friends goes over the speed limit, or lights up a joint, right?

Glad I don't have any friends like you. My friends all know that friendship is more valuable than having some kind of vague moral high ground.

 

[renegade7]

One of my friends pirated Skyrim recently (like a day ago). I am really, really irrated about it, I spent a whole hour almost ranting at him about how cruel it was to Bethesda's workers who poured so much work into the game for him to just pirate it.
He said that he was completely justified in taking it at as he did'nt want to pay for it, which in my opinion is a terrible excuse.

Now I don't hate pirates, some times it is fair. Like situations like no demo, trying before you buy it, it's an EA game(lol half-joke) or it is'nt available anymore to buy; but just taking a product for the sake of WEYHAY FREE SHIT!!111!! just does not sit well with me.

Anyway I need some advice, is their any system that I can report this to secretly? Cause I really think I need to make an example of him, and he is the kind of person that if he does it once an gets away wih it, he will do it again.

So fellow escapists any suggesions?

p.s Don't turn this into a Skyrim vs Oblivion thread plox. WUV U <3

Edit. I don't like the idea of snitching on him but there is no other way I can think of were he would get the message that theiving of deserving companys is unacceptable. I f anyone has a suggestion I would love to know .

Snitch on him? Well if a game company is more important than your friend, then by all means go ahead with it. And while you're at it, maybe you should give him the $60 to buy the game, if Bethesda getting its money is so important.

 

[DoPo]

Theres no justified reason to pirate.

None at all.

Pay/Rent/Watch videos of the game, but do not pirate.

Don't care if theres no fucking demo, its their choice.

(Let the endless quotes commence!)

QUOTING YOU! You totally got quoted by my quoting skills.

I more or less agree with you. I think there is a justifications - the absolute inability to get the game otherwise. For example, an old game nobody sells any more or some such.

But pretty much most of the time there isn't a valid excuse. I've seen things that range from bran-dead to "dude, wat." territory. For example one person who said he pirated a game because it didn't official language support for them. No, there wasn't unofficial, either. The game was in English.

 

[johnnnny guitar]

I goto say get over it, 11 year olds go and tell on each other
you've voiced your opinion to them there is nothing left to do now.

Piracy is a thing, not an issue or a problem its a thing your gonna have to accept that is going to be around forever and isn't going away soon.
I've said before that games need to focus on bang for your buck gaming and skyrim is the very definition of bang for your buck but to your friend it's not worth anything to them so they downloaded it from a torrent site.
Okay something that thousands of ORDINARY people do everyday and don't care that certain people think is horribly immoral stop worring.
Did you buy the game and injoy it good you've done all that you can, will telling the teacher and possibly get him a fine make him buy the game and somehow magicly make the torrent file disappear?

So here's a simple piece of advice.....

Don't worry so much about small things in life that other people do
worry about small/Big things in life that mainly affect YOU.

 

[anthony87]

It's funny that a lot of people in this thread seem to think that piracy is a thing that can be stopped. Maybe once we've taken care of piracy we can move onto illegal drugs?

 

[anthony87]

It's funny that a lot of people in this thread seem to think that piracy is a thing that can be stopped. Maybe once we've taken care of piracy we can move onto illegal drugs?

I'd rather we just do both at once. That's not impossible, right? Once one is gone, we can focus on the other.

Well frankly I think that both are quite impossible but if you honestly think otherwise then more power to you I guess.

 

[Woodsey]

Have you ever borrowed a game from a friend OP?

Let's not start up the laughably inapt comparisons. His friend is playing it with no intention of paying for it, and no one has paid for that copy.

OT: Your friend's a dick and you should call him out on it, but there's little point in trying to take it any further.

 

[BodomBeachChild]

He's not your friend if you plan on ratting him out over something that trivial. Did you go to the police when he was at your house and took a can of soda without asking?

 

[s0p0g]

that i consider someone to be my friend does not by default mean that i accept every and anything they do

if they do something illegal (and i consider it illegitimate, too), i do not have to like it. if i also believe that if you do something wrong you should deal with the consequences, i of course will take actiuon against them

also, if they were my friend, they'd know how i think about stuff like that, and they'd also know that i won't just blindly accept any shit they do, and that i will of course consider doing something against their wrongdoing (and yes, stealing data is wrongdoing)
so they would have kept their trap shut, for both my and their own sake

problem with this case, specifically: i don't think that stealing data is as bad as, say, a case of hit-and-run accident, especially regarding the sometimes draconic punishments the courts decide on

kinda tough spot you're in, OP - it boils down to choosing bewtween blind loyalty or lawful/moral behaviour; it's pretty much your decision

maybe tell him that a) his disrespect for property sucks and b) the next time he should just not mention it to you? if he does again, make clear he'll then have to live with the consequences.
the only other option i see is informing the authorities, and that's a little too much (imho)

and a can of soda is a little different from a sixty bucks product, or did i miss something? also, drinking is vitally important while a computer-game is pure luxury - you want it, you pay; that easy

 

[royohz]

theiving of deserving companys is unacceptable.

Piracy isn't theft. Developers do not loose anything from piracy. A lost sale is not thievery. Just had to put that out there.

 

[Unsilenced]

I said it on page 3 and I'll say it again. As much as it's a fun topic to debate, the ethics of piracy are not really the issue here. Yes, the friend is breaking the law. Yes, there are reasons for copyright laws, and there is no ethical justification for piracy in this case.

The question is one of proportionate retribution and loyalty to the friend. What is it you really want to accomplish with this? Do you want your friend to stop pirating, or are you trying to live up to Lawful Stupid [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LawfulStupid] ideals?

If you really want to be the great champion of all legality... well go for it I guess. Report him, but I swear to god you had better not ever jaywalk or speed again.

If you just want him to stop pirating, or at least make him think twice, there are a number of ways to get that message through. I suggested earlier making a fake "you're busted" letter to give him a bit of a scare, and someone else suggested buying him games he's pirated. Depending on how ethically questionable you're willing to get, you could remove the files from his computer and set up a fake application that just opens an image file reading "Thank you for playing this demo. Please purchase a full copy."


The thing is that once you bring the law into a situation like this, the level of punishment is completely out of your hands. They might ignore him, and he would learn nothing. Likewise, they might smash him into the ground so hard he spends the rest of his life in debt. He wouldn't pirate again only for lack of computer and/or food. You don't know, and that's a hell of a risk to take.

People here seem to be presenting this as black and white: Either piracy is ok or you should fuck your friend over a table. That's not how it has to be. You have a lot of options between "do nothing" and "backstab so brutally the Spy would call you dishonorable."

To use an old analogy, a 12-guage shotgun may indeed prevent someone from getting a cold, but there are a lot better solutions available.

 

[Tanakh]

Its not my definition, its the definition of the Oxford dictionary.

Actually the one I am going to post is from some other online dictionary I found by means of google, but whatever.

v.tr.
1. To take (the property of another) without right or permission.

And how does taking the computer program property of another without right or permission fails to comply the definition? Merriam-Webster defines take as "to get into one's hands or into one's possession, power, or control", and by pirating you are certanly getting a game into your possession without right, or are you not?

Also I dont know what's the issue people take by assuming the possesive of something, it might be the Oxford dictionary definition, but I would assume it's also yours and that doesn't devalue it, does it?

 

[MarlonBlazed]

Have you seen the UV mapping in that game? These people crapped out really unpolished game and your saying they poured a lot of work into it. He'll marry us!

 

[Something Amyss]

Thanks bro, I half expected the responses to be Y U NO LIEK PIRATES!! ******!

On a site that will ban you for being pro-piracy, where even people who aren't pro-piracy have to tread EXTREMELY carefully to avoid moderation?

I can see why you'd be concerned.

 

[Toilet]

Anyway I need some advice, is their any system that I can report this to secretly?

Oh No! Maybe you can reporting to the internet police!

This whole subject is pathetic, your "friend" can pirate all he likes and there is little you can do to stop him, tens of thousands (maybe even hundreds) of people have pirated Skyrim and reporting him to Bethesda or the parent company is pointless because they wont care about one person playing it for free. If anything they would rather target the person who posted the link but considering most piracy is Peer2Peer not much will come of that.

Oh well, good luck with forcing of your moral values on someone you consider your friend, maybe if it is possible you could donate £30 to Bethesda if you feel sorry that they are missing out on that money your friend is denying them.

 

[Devil's Due]

I think what surprises me most about this entire thread is how much people will bash the OP just because he considers going to the authorities for a friend breaking a law. Last I checked, being a friend does not mean "you must cover up this dirty behavior," nor anything else. Loyalty to a friend must be your own personal choice, and if you decide not to there's nothing wrong with it. Why must you risk your reputation for allowing your friends to be criminals? That's just sickening.

Maybe I'm just a different class, all of my friends prefer to actually help society, and we know each others dark secrets, and none involve law breaking (just lots of stupid or messed up situations but surprisingly nothing illegal about them). While I know if one of them did something illegal, I wouldn't report it (depending, I actually am required to report things like this in my position), but I would force them to man up about it. Either they fix it some way, turn themselves in, or I will no longer affilate myself with them and will spread the word that others should not either. We've already done this to a few former friends, and we all know the risks associated. Any time one of our core group messes up, they've always repaid their debt somehow, and we all know about it because we have integrity--which appears to be the last pure form of humanity left in this world.

Shame, loyalty being put up before integrity. Friends before personal morals. No wonder people give into peer pressure so easily these days or allow entire crimes to be committed under their nose. People just don't know the right choice anymore.

Good luck, OP. Whatever you decide to do to handle this, just make sure you're comfortable doing it with your integrity. You don't necessarily have to report him, but at the same time you don't have to ignore it like majority in this thread seem to want. (I assume most here are afraid if this catches on they themselves will be caught the same way your friend is)

Integrity first.

(PS: I don't respond to threads after controversial posts because I know it's meaningless. Remarks to this post won't even be read. Just wanted to give you all a heads' up.)

 

[targren]

According to the game companies, we do not own the games, we own the license to play them.

Since we cannot give the license to people when they borrow the game, people who borrow ARE stealing.

Sounds, to me, like a great argument for saying "fuck the game companies and the horse they rode in on. First Sale FTW."