Poll: Piracy is legal

[drummond13]

I'm just curious, do you also think borrowing a dvd from a friend, or playing a friend's copy of Gears of War with him at his house (a copy you did not pay for) or buying a game used is also theft?

No I do not. I've heard the same argument given against my view as someone attempts to put me in a box. I do see them as different though.

Borrowing means that I am losing access to my game while giving it to someone else (piracy is copying that game so there are now multiple access points and giving it to someone else. The important part is there is still only one existing copy). By borrowing, there is still one copy out there that is bought and paid for and it is a basic consumer right of ours to do what we want with out property.

Not trying to put you in a box at all. I'm just trying to wrap my mind around your perspective. I honestly don't see how temporarily depriving myself of the game while my friend borrows it doesn't also violate your views on someone enjoying someone else's work for free. What if this friend is my roommate and I don't lose access to the game at all?

Same with buying used games. As you said, it's a basic consumer right to do what we want with things we pay for. This would include selling it to Gamestop used, who then sells it to a third party with the original developer not getting any money from their hard work. Legal or not, the end result is the same. Do you have the same outrage at this?

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Well, it is, assuming that you live in one of the countries [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114537-File-sharing-Remains-Legal-In-Switzerland] such as Switzerland or The Netherlands that either already legalized it, or at least decriminalized it.

For the rest of you, the question is this: If piracy (that is, individual, non-commercial sharing of otherwise copyrighted data) would be legal in your country, would that change your feelings in any way about whether or not the people using it are thiefs/assholes/self-entitled freeloaders respectively?

Theft is one of the things that if made legal, it doesn't make it morally right. Theft is never morally right.

The world really is going downhill if countries are legalizing theft(no matter how you paint it, piracy is theft).

Switzerland and the Netherlands are now on my list of stupid countries.

So, making piracy legal wouldn't change my mind. I would still say to pirates, "Hey dumb-asses, get jobs and pay for what you want. There is no excuse for what you do."

To the "making a statement" consumer pirates, "You too dumb-asses, just because a company doesn't put out a demo, doesn't give you the right to download a game without paying so that you can test it to see if you want to buy. Reviews and videos are the only option for you to find out if you want it. If it still sucks when you buy it, tough. That's life, deal with it."

Each individual decides what is morally okay for him and what isn't.

If it was legal, I think most people would also consider it morally okay- same as what's happening with weed currently.

Yes, but there is a difference. The legalization of weed just lets people smoke weed. The legalization piracy basically lets people steal and read/watch/play things without paying.

It is basically a kick in the balls to anybody trying to make money off of entertainment.

I would be pissed if the US made piracy legal. I'm a writer and I plan to publish some of my works when they are complete.

After that, if I found out somebody was hosting copies of my books online for people to download and was able to meet that person, I'd punch that person in the face. Well, probably not, but I sue him/her into the ground so he/she tasted dirt.

As I said far above, there are some things that even if they became legal, it wouldn't make them morally right, even if some people started thinking it is morally right.

Murder, theft, etc, etc, are things that will always be morally wrong. The day that such things aren't considered immoral, that is the day the world/human race destroys itself.

Piracy is theft. It really is as simple as that.

Truer words were never spoken.

 

[Vault101]

[snip.)

this is what pisses me off

you are putting the burden on ME and other people who pay to ensure that our media/entertainment keeps getting made

make a product=sell product thats how our society works

its just about getting free shit

its ALWAYS about getting free shit

 

[Entitled]

Neither of these comments contradict the other one.

Distribution of information is cool, yet creators need money for their work.

Conclusion: We need to find a way that lets creators get payed for their work, without limiting the distribution of information.

but the product is easyly accesible....you just need to pay for it

Not always, some of it really is inacccessible.

And besides, limited distribution of information will only lead to limited awareness, to industries where hype and advertising are the ones making a profit, instead of pleased customers, and to creativity itself being limited because of the clusterfuck that is modern copyright.

I don't think that the music industry was harmed by moving from album sales profits to concert profits. In fact, it felped to increase awareness of smaller indie bands, while only harming mainstream superstars and their publishers by earning them somehow smaller amounts of money piles.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

if ou dont belive the company is deserving of your money then dont get the product....stealing is childish and petty

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT =/= THEFT

HULK SMASH

If people download a pirated game, they are taking and playing without paying, something that doesn't belong to them.

Taking something without paying, taking something that isn't yours, is theft.

Piracy = Theft.

I just made Hulk impotent.

 

[Vault101]

If it was legal, I think most people would also consider it morally okay- same as what's happening with weed currently.

how the fuck is it ok?

I make a game called chicken hunters...I put effort into it, I put the game up for sale......everyone loves the game...and majority of people pirate the game

I have no money no chicken hunters 2...great going guys!!!

or scenario 2

I make chicken hunters 2 under publisher FC (fat cats), chicken hunters 2 is a game with a sizable budget....people love chicken hunters 2 but alot of people pirate

FC have alot of money....but they look at the stats and the "disapointing" returns for chicken hunters 2 and shut down my studio

GREAT GOING GUYS!!!

people who advocate piracy seem to lack basic logic

 

[Entitled]

its just about getting free shit

its ALWAYS about getting free shit

Exactly. "Information wants to be free" is bullshit.

Then again, information doesn't want to be locked away, either. There is no natural law about how publishers always deserved to legally force us to buy copies or GTFO. That idea only exists since the law says so.

Obviously, there are a whole bunch of people who think that they are entitled to free shit (where "shit" means copies of information). There are a whole bunch of artists who think that they are entitled to make me pay. And there are a bunch of publishers who feel entitled to force the artist to give up their copyright to them, and then they force me to pay.

There are people who feel entitled to Fair Use. There are publishers who feel entitled to limit Fair Use. There is a public that feels entitled to Public Domain works. Then there are those who want copyright lenght to be longer.

There are those who want to write mods, and fanfics, and hand-crafted merch, and those who try to shut them down.


Everybody wants to be more profitable, to get more free shit, and generally to have more rights than they have right now.

 

[Entitled]

If it was legal, I think most people would also consider it morally okay- same as what's happening with weed currently.

how the fuck is it ok?

I make a game called chicken hunters...I put effort into it, I put the game up for sale......everyone loves the game...and majority of people pirate the game

I have no money no chicken hunters 2...great going guys!!!

The majority of people are already pirating anyways, they have been for decades, and the industry keeps going.

 

[Vault101]

sniip

no money=no product

its not fucking rocket science

that doenst mean the consumer has to be at the mercy of anti-customer BS

it doenst mean the creators dont have a right to make alving off their work

 

[tehwalrus]

Copyright Infringement =/= Theft
Theft is taking someone else's thing. If you go up to your neighbour's car and duplicate it with a magic device, you didn't steal his car, his car is still there. What you did was infringe on Ford's copyright on that specific car design.
People who keep trying to say they are the same thing are like someone arguing that First Degree Murder and Manslaughter are the same thing. They're different! Two similar things are two different things. I don't understand how after more than ten years of arguing about piracy people still don't understand the terms 'theft' and 'copyright infringement'.

 

[Entitled]

If people download a pirated game, they are taking and playing without paying

Incorrect, If people download a pirated game, they are making a copy and playing without paying

There is no "taking" involved.

Taking something without paying, taking something that isn't yours, is theft.

And not taking away anything, is not theft.

 

[Vault101]

The majority of people are already pirating anyways, they have been for decades, and the industry keeps going.

oh well I supose thats ok then-

NO...NO IT ISNT

screw those people for making ME suffer throguh DRM

 

[Vault101]

[snip.

BUT YOUR NOT PAYING FOR IT

the dev gets no money from you

 

[Entitled]

sniip

no money=no product

its not fucking rocket science

that doenst mean the consumer has to be at the mercy of anti-customer BS

it doenst mean the creators dont have a right to make alving off their work

And money=product.

I'm all for creators making a living off their works.

 

[sethisjimmy]

The morality of piracy is always on a case by case basis. For instance if you just pirate all games for no other reason than to get free games, most people consider that immoral. However, if you pirate for such reasons as intrusive DRM, region locking, old games that are no longer making the company money, lack of demo, etc, these are reasons which people find more morally legitimate. Ultimately, it's up to the individual to determine what they find immoral, regardless of the law.

Here in Canada (although i've heard it's changed recently, or is changing), the RCMP have stated that they won't pursue charges against those who download copyrighted material for personal use, they only go after the uploaders. I don't think this changes the morality on piracy really.

The law shouldn't dictate what is moral, what is moral should dictate the law.

 

[Vault101]

And money=product.

I'm all for creators making a living off their works.

yet its ok for everyone to pirate.....

the logic astounds me

 

[Entitled]

[snip.

BUT YOUR NOT PAYING FOR IT

the dev gets no money from you

The devs get money from me every time I buy a game.

The devs don't get money from me whenever I don't buy a game.

There is a significant difference between the two.

 

[Shilefin]

If anyone believes that developers and/or artists are losing anything by having their works pirated, I propose we should make a law which states that every pirate who downloads someone's product must send back not only the product he's downloaded to the artist, but also an another copy of said product. That way, the 'creator' will not only cover up his losses but also have an extra surplus of goods!

 

[Entitled]

And money=product.

I'm all for creators making a living off their works.

yet its ok for everyone to pirate.....

the logic astounds me

Not everyone.

Just the majority.

If everyone would always pirate, the industry would collapse.

 

[Vault101]

anip.

you want a product

you should pay for a product

people pirating is a thing...IT IS NOT OK just because a bunch of people do it, they put the burden on people who actually pay for their shit

If anyone believes that developers and artists are losing something by having their works pirated, I say we should make a law which states that every pirate who downloads someone's product must send back the product he downloaded AND an another copy of said product. That way, the 'creator' will not only cover up his losses but also have an extra surplus of goods!

makes...no...godman..sense

just pay the creator