So... why is it okay to pirate porn?

[xDarc]

Did anyone mention that it doesn't cost 200 million dollars to make a single porno movie? When it comes down to it, a porno can be made and distributed over the web for next to nothing it's hard not to make money.

 

[Something Amyss]

I didn't realise it was ok.

To be honest, I've never heard of this "hypocrisy" before. I have never heard anyone say "It's okay to pirate porn, but PIRACY OF OTHER MEDIA IS BAD!"

I'm pretty sure that a lot of the Youtube style porn sites have agreements with a lot of porn companies by now. Certainly the one I do always has featured clips and partner videos. In all fairness I think the porn industry is getting pretty irrelevant as it is. How many times can you film the same scene of people having sex.

People will always want new porn, because it's a disposable media and people generally get bored and want new scenes. Even if it's just people doing the same thing.

 

[Goldeneye1989]

Well most tube sites are not pirating and if they are they get censored quickly and replaced with ads, Those banner ads you see that's basically how they make money off it. As well as the whole subscribe there and pay with the credit card stuff.

 

[SFMB]

It's the same.
It's just that porn is seen as a morally bankrupt industry, so no one really cares about protecting their rights. A sort of Robin Hood mentality in the subconscious saying "if they're bad, we can steal from them all we like" keeps the general public from caring.
Porn isn't taken as a serious part of entertainment media. Simple as that.

This is just why I tend to pirate EA and other big publisher games. Though, haven't done it for a while because what they're offering is utter crap, not even worth my bandwidth...

 

[hermes]

No one wants to take a 16 year old into court and accuse them of stealing porno...

I would. I would also invite his entire family and school, and upload the video on youtube.

OT: Its not ok, but since the industry is considered deprived no one cares to uphold its rights. And the creators either, since they know appealing to the moral nerve of conservative people about the rights of porn is almost an oxymoron.

 

[Rude as HECK]

Guys, you know there's a controversy as to whether Porn even qualifies for copyright protection, right?

Personally, I don't agree with any of the so far given reasons for excluding it, but then I'm not a massive fan of copyright as a concept.

 

[michael87cn]

So many excuses in this thread its disgusting. So big budget game/movie/music companies lose money, whoopdie-doo. Money exists only as a value, not as a thing. Once a currency loses it's value, it's not even good for wallpaper. People who put their bodies on display however, are giving up something much more real and personal. Nobody goes into the porn industry because they WANT to. They do it to get by.

Shove your excuses up your ass and admit that you're just as wrong as game/movie/music pirates and that you should stop stealing pornography.

That's not to mention that some pornography is illegal. In some places of the world women are kidnapped and used as slaves, all without you knowing it because they're terrified into submission.

Yeah, you never know what you're watching.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Eh, it's porno, nobody gives a toss.

[sub]What I did there. Did you see it?[/sub]

 

[Beryl77]

It's an evil and dirty industry therefore I can pirate it without a bad conscience, although it is just the same as pirating a movie or game and it's just my own hypocrisy which lets me do this.

 

[Rude as HECK]

Increasingly, the level of discourse on the escapist when it comes to IP issues is dropping.

Remember people: Intellectual property is fundamentally a legal institution. Informed discussion requires a working knowledge of the legal side of things.

 

[Yopaz]

Downloading something is a crime. Streaming something is legal.

Uploading things to a streaming site is illegal. Downloading something form a streaming site that doesn't permit downloads by abusing the system is in a grey area.

Downloading a porn movie is just as bad as a regular movie. It's just that porn doesn't have the same support by the politicians. It's morally wrong to download copyrighted content. A lot say it's morally wrong to watch porn. Morals make the porn industry suffer because they don't get the same support when they try to defend. It's not sold in as many places. People are ashamed of watching porn and thus they are ashamed to buy it.

 

[Lazier Than Thou]

No, those ratings are voluntary by the industry. Their is no law enforcement behind it only industry fines and sanctions. That is because Movies and Games are protect free speech (remember that big supreme court case last year), so you cannot put in legal restrictions.

Porn is different, Porn was ruled not to be protected free speech so legal requirements can be put on it's sales etc.

Cinema's and games sellers are legally allowed to let children watch MA films, buy MA games. They don't though because if they get found out the movie industry fines them and does not give them any new movies, so they go out of buisness. Same thing with the games industry.

That's my understanding of the difference anyway. Also this is just the US. In a country like the UK the age certificates are legally enforced.

Really? I didn't know films were rated voluntarily. I knew games were, but I thought there was a government body for films.

Makes sense, though.

Good question overall. But this kind of thing is based on the old ideas about copyright.
The concept of Intellectual Property that is pushed really hard these days doesn't gel well with the implications of this...

Think about it. If Porn cannot be copyrighted at all that makes it public domain by default.

If the status of anything that someone made an effort to create is public domain by default, then it implies they never owned it to begin with.

Which makes the whole concept of 'intellectual property' a bit of a joke.
(The default idea of property is not that it's collectively owned by the public unless stated otherwise. Which would appear to be the implication of copyright laws...)

I honestly don't know how to feel on the subject, to be honest. On the one hand, copyright protection was to support the power of the individual, allowing people to own their own ideas and profit from them. I've heard many people conclude that it is the reason the US is so powerful economically. Not so much capitalism as it is the fact that people can own what they create.

On the other hand, it's interesting to think that a copyright is basically only enforced if there is some benefit to the community. "The advancement of science or the arts." Kind of a collectivist idea behind an individualist idea. I mean, we don't think you have a right to what you make, unless it's something that makes everyone else better.

Seems rather self-defeating.

However, on a slightly different note, I would argue that an R or MA rated film or game isn't technically obscene.

For something to be obscene generally means it was refused classification altogether. (or has a classification in line with it being considered obscene.)

That may mean an R rating is unenforceable legally... (Which if I understand US law is actually true; - Games ratings are voluntary. Not legally enforced.)

Of course, that's very much a US thing. The ratings systems in other countries have far more legal weight behind them, because most other countries don't technically have freedom of speech as a fundamental concept.

(People in the UK & Australia for instance don't technically have the right to free speech. They have such rights in practice, but there's no actual fundamental legal protection of the idea of free speech...

Which might go some way to explaining UK libel laws, or the fact that an idea such as a 'super-injunction' is even possible...)

The idea that people in other countries don't have the right to free speech is terrifying. I've heard it before and I understand it, but it's nauseating to imagine people being locked up for their political views in otherwise "enlightened" countries. Truly horrifying.

 

[BlackStar42]

Why not just stream it or use free sites? Plus, think of the poor horny teenagers- how are they supposed to buy it?

 

[Rude as HECK]

Why not just stream it or use free sites? Plus, think of the poor horny teenagers- how are they supposed to buy it?

If a porn video is uploaded without authorization from the copyright holder, then streaming is an act of infringement just as much as downloading to your hard drive.

 

[RatRace123]

To me its kinda the same. And I've never downloaded porn... only because I'm sure most of it is laced with viruses (and not the kind of viruses most often associated with porn).

But the porn industry doesn't seem to care quite as much as the others. Add in that your average porn costs way less to make than your average hollywood film, and the fact that the porn industry still makes a lot of bank through people who buy DVDs, and pay per view shows, and subscribe to the websites. And a lot of them put up "free" samples on the youtubes of pronz all across the internet.

It's like I've said, when you build your industry on people's wanking habits, you are truly a recession proof industry.

 

[killakan11]

i dont care because pornstars dont have souls