What do you think of PIRACY?

What do you think of digital piracy? That's the question, a rather simple one compared to other questions
Do you think of pirates as nothing but thieves?
My favourite question is have you ever watched, downloaded or bought an illegal movies, software, games or even books? Why is this my favourite question? Because I know for a fact that every single man and woman has at least done this once even if they didn't know, it seems impossible not to break the law nowadays anyway. Everyone seems to be a criminal by a broken justice system. I like most cops just hate how little they can do to uphold the law here in AUS.

I understand why most people do it and frankly I don't care what you do.
However I only ask this question out of curiosity so don't be offended if you think I'm prying for information, after all your computer holds that and if the NSA or were serious they'd bust down your door and take you prisoner. Well that and because they do it themselves even the police who "confiscate" these pirated programs keep them themselves so as far as I'm concerned everyone's as bad as each other. I'm even willing to bet that the politicians who fight piracy have seen or used pirated software themselves.

I just want a general opinion on the matter. Yes I said opinion. I know I'll probably hate myself afterwards for saying this though.

P.S. Don't worry if you pirate your secrets safe with us just remember to hide your IP.

reply to post by blueyezblkdragon


I guess what confuses me is what if I bought a CD a long time ago and now it's all scratched. Why shouldn't I be allowed to download it later? I've bought it once, I should own the digital information contained on that CD.

Same for movies, books, games, etc.

I just don't see how you could be a criminal for downloading something you already bought. The person who uploaded the torrent first I guess would be breaking the law about distribution.

Depends on if I'm a greedy scumbag or if I want people to read my work, listen to my music or view my art.

A thief would not leave anything for everyone else. A thief take your revenue. A thief would leave you with nothing.

Sounds more like those who control copyright laws, to me.

The NSA is alive and well and everyone is going to rush right up here and confess to pirating?

I can honestly say that I agree with pirating more now than I would if it were my hard work being pirated. It is stealing if you are getting content you would otherwise have to pay for, for free. Just because you aren't walking into a brick and mortar building and walking out with "ABBA Sings Bing Crosby's Greatest Hits Dressed As Cher" tucked into your bloomers doesn't make it any less illegal/wrong.

It usually means one less monetary purchase which does cut into somebody's profits. It doesn't matter how rich they are, or how people may think that they should give stuff away because they are well off.... we do not get to judge when someone has made enough money to necessitate "free crap" for the masses (right now at any rate).

Do I like free stuff. Pfffft... yeah. If I was a billionaire would I want people stealing money from me? No. That's really all it boils down to. Put yourself in their shoes and imagine people stealing your work thousands upon thousands of times.

And no NSA - I do not pirate.

reply to post by blueyezblkdragon


I did it a lot when Napster was alive and well, but most people didn't even know what piracy was back then. Except for the few of us with Beta players kicking around from the 80s. (and still not really grasping the idea that well)

Just a different mindset though, for a lot of us growing up, it was totally normal to copy a video you owned for a friend, or make a mix tape and give it to a girl you like. They act like this is the same as beating an old woman and stealing her purse today.

Sad.

In any case, as I gained employment and appreciated my efforts in life, I began buying media or going to live performances or movie theatres. You can't get blood from a stone, as they say. The reason live media is better, is the social aspect. And that's what you pay for.

As far as buying digital (or previously analog) you did so because it was good quality. It's not to say if someone lends you or records a Pauly Shore movie you might not love it and go buy them all when you can (if you were dropped on your head as a kid or have mental retardation).

I think market forces are market forces, and if stuff is being pirated to the point people are losing profits it has more to do with distribution, pricing and half-hearted crap trying to be sold to the public.

You want an argument as to why piracy doesn't matter? Game of Thrones. /thread

It was proven recently (group of british artists) that piracy leads to 15% more sales!!!

However, I've slogged over developing software, and though I've never (yet) sold any of it, it would pee me off if people stole it from me.

What I dont like is this. A few years back, in the early days of file sharing, I remember the music industry worked with a few uni's, they told the students that if they stopped sharing then they'd make music available to them for free. Sounds good, but the students very quickly realised the industry weren't bothered about the piracy, what bothered the industry was the lack of control over what the students listened to!
It's all about control!

Personally, I like to think of "Pirates" as opportunists. I mean, to say piracy. . .such a negative sounding word.

Seriously, though, I would rather get paid for work I've done than to have it strewn about on the net for free. Yet, ah who am I kidding, I love finding stuff online for free.

Hey, I guess as long as there are oceans, there will always be pirates.

I hate when I'm sailing across the Atlantic with a hold full of gold and I see the Jolly Roger appear on the horizon. Oh, you said digital piracy.

Yeah, the only digital piracy I did was taping songs off the radio onto my cassette tapes. You had to time it just right, push the record button then stop right when the song ended. I used to hate it when the dj talked over the song.

reply to post by blueyezblkdragon

Like anything else, piracy is neither wholly good nor wholly bad and often there is a sort of symbiosis between the pirates and the pirated. Piracy of music, movies and to a lesser extent, software (in addition to porn) has driven the roll out of increasingly higher bandwidth Internet connections. High-speed access in turn created an infrastructure that made possible the legal outlets like Netflix, Spotify, iTunes, Google Play etc.

Also keep in mind that what is being pirated is a digital copy that in of itself costs the business nothing additionally to create, market, distribute or support. In many instances, piracy can actually drive sales by increasing popularity. Take for example Adobe Photoshop, a software whose name has become part of the popular lexicon despite costing much more than the average person can afford to pay. How? By being one the most pirated applications ever.

In both of these examples, consumers have also benefited--in a sense, piracy is a pressure that drives an evolutionary process in business. This pressure gives rise to more convenient and efficient delivery and of course, lower prices. Piracy is also often an equalizer, giving access to those would could otherwise not afford the pirated product and not being prospective customers, these consumers do not represent lost revenue for the business. Culturally, we benefit whenever an artist of any kind is exposed to material that would have previously been inaccessible.

On the other hand, if there were no protection at all and if access to pirated material were too easy and devoid of any risk, even what is typically a miniscule one, then less and less people would pay for anything and then there would be less professional *everything*.

TheComte
I hate when I'm sailing across the Atlantic with a hold full of gold and I see the Jolly Roger appear on the horizon. Oh, you said digital piracy.

Yeah, the only digital piracy I did was taping songs off the radio onto my cassette tapes. You had to time it just right, push the record button then stop right when the song ended. I used to hate it when the dj talked over the song.

Star for you as you just sent me on a trip down memory lane. I also remember trying to rig a pre recorded cassette to record songs off the radio when you were out of new cassettes and had some old ones laying around. I remember using a bic ballpoint pen to wind the tape back up when the player tried to eat it.

Good times.

piracy often does lead to more sales as it gives people a chance to try before you buy and if somthing really is as good as it seems people do often want to support its maker.

The whole concept of piracy is absurd, like a poster above mentions, if you ever made a mix tape your a pirate.

The whole cencept of piracy is a desperate and bizzare attempt to keep alive a buisiness model that should have died years ago.

Film, music and computer games are the most commonly pirated but look at how the buisniesses are run, huge companies sinking tens of millions into projects that often flop because the need to appeal to as many people as possible to turn a profit and turn into bland flip-flops.

These huge behemoths are slowly dying as more inivative options become available.
A good example would be minecraft, which has a lot lower rate of piracy that mainstream game that cost £40+ and has made a good living for its creator.

I think in the long run we will see kickstarter like funding for tv shows, games and movies with free distrubution and the option to buy deluxe versions of it if you are a big enough fan. That kind of buisiness model would lead to much better media as well.

Simplistic view on my end:


If I WAS *shifty eyes* to download something illegally it would be something that I:

1. Had no intention of seeing at a cinema
2. Had no intention of buying from a shop

This might seem like a bit of a weird thing, but I have a netflix account for old films, no new films make me want to spend up to £20 just to sit in a room full of mouth breathers. Would rather spend that money in a local pub.

I am guilty of many things... Some best not said in civilized conversation. But I do grab full copies of TV series whilst I wait for them to be released on the beta-max or VHS.... or laser disc!

I can remember when Piracy was an adventure, back in OZ we used to have to visit a pot dealer who was also a pirate dvd seller. You were as worried about getting busted by the cops on the way home with the DVDs as you the .....ahem....other stuff.

Then I came to Asia, every single mall and street market has dozens of pirate DVD, CD and computer software shops.

Now I just torrent whatever I want, usually just old movies Ive seen 100 times, Id never watch a new movie on my Lappy as I think the cinema experience is worth paying for.

So yes I am a pirate

*puts on eye patch and hoists jolly roger*

Aaaarrrgggghhhh come and get me ye scurvy NSA dogs!!!!!!

Really I am only concerned about software (game) piracy.
A good game is made, it sells moderately but is pirated bigtime.

So, whats the incentive for developers to do a followup game?

I am a big believer in buy it if you like it.

Piracy is wrong and everyone knows it. There is no excuse altruistic or otherwise that can be made for it. Now, some wrongs are worth more than another.
Youtube has recently cracked down on copyright issues, which is way over the top. not gonna go into it, but that is complete bs on their part and needs to get fixed else watch the personalities they grew big on find a new venue.

Anyhow, if I write a book, I would like people who enjoyed the book to actually pay for it. Wouldn't anyone. You work hard for something, this means you took time away from family, work, play, etc..to create something. To say anyone should feel entitled to have it for free because blah...well, that's just nonsense.
I do think digital however should be considerably cheaper than stores...I understand paying 10$ for a book at a bookstore. gotta print it, that's factories, ink, distribution lines, truckers, gas, shelf space, etc etc etc...but the same price for a digital book...no...makes no sense.

Of course, this will completely destroy bookstores once and for all if it was like 1/4th the price, but meh, its gonna happen anyhow, time to move into the next phase of civilization (btw, many inde authors are doing this already. cheap digital only books.

reply to post by SaturnFX


Whats your thoughts on downloading games you bought back in the day?

Ive recently downloaded Zues Master of olympus, baldurs gate, planescape torment and icewind dale.
All for free and I assume illegally (not sure if they are abandon ware yet as most came out in the 90's) but when they were new I did purchase them (mainly coz I dont think pirating was an option back then)

I wouldnt download any new games coz I think they all suck or are just to complicated for me LOL

If the quality is there, then the funding doesn't lack. I fully believe that.

What we're seeing today is a complete lack of quality. So what if some HD full cinematographic dolby surroud sound 3D whopping game comes out. Big hoo haa. If the game is rubbish, it's just a cheesy cartoon with the option of turning to page 145 to save the rabbit, or page 76 to eat it.

Movies, music, games... everything that we put into our brains has become so stupid and people are expected to pay for it.

If it is worth the requested amount, it will receive it. If not, it will be passed around like a cheap cask wine.

Maybe piracy does lead to more sales.

I've seen pirated copies of latest software like Microsoft Windows 8 at small street shops, not far from my place. Selling at $0.64 per pack.

Bill Gates retains the top spot on the Forbes 400 for the twentieth straight year, at $72 billion.

www.forbes.com...

I have been a Pirate for many years now but do go out and buy the items I pirate if I like them.

The worst damage to these industry's is the stores that allow you to purchase used games, music and film.

For example one game bought a % of the cash goes to the Developers but then after the same game has been bought and sold many times over buy your local Game store that profit is then going directly to the store chain.

We also know that bands and music artists make only a tiny % of total CD sales and make there money on the gigs.

Here is a nice vid on the subject

youtu.be...

I find it amusing.

Especially for computer games, it's handy. There is no game store to go rent a game for pc.

So usually if I see a title I'm interested in, I grab it online and give it a spin. If I like it, I go buy it.

Skyrim was a perfect example of an excellent game I've sank money into, and I enjoy it very much.

There are several recent games, for instance, Battlefield 4, I wouldn't spend money on. and having Beta's the online portion. It was less then enjoyable.

So, for games, yes, I find it necessary to "trial" before I buy. $59 for a game is a bit much, especailly on a limited budget, and a family to support.

Applications / software other then games. I tend to look for Opensource options, like on sourceforge for my needs. I try not to pirate applications. I did buy an excellent A.I. application called "Denise" from the creator. Best software I've bought in years, and well worth it. Now if she would correct grammer and spelling erros, and make me some coffee.. LOL

But, no, I see nothing wrong with "pirating" for trial purposes. There are no Demos made available, like there used to be. I remember getting game cd's in the mail every couple months (Forget the game magazine I was subscribed to). But they always had demos of the latest and greatest games coming out. So there was no need to pirate.

Yes, am guilty of making Mixed audio cassetts. Can remember being quite mad at the store when they were out of 90 and 120 minute tapes on occassion. LOL

I pay for quality, and products I like.. The rest goes to the recycle bin, as thats all it's worth to me.

I can't believe how the recording industry has gone after individuals for downloading like 30 songs before. makes me cringe to think I could be on the bad end of one of those lawsuits on the tip for like 4.5 million. what the hell is wrong with the world when record companies are suing poor people that download songs.

and software, you have a right to try the full version to see if its for you, I mean Photoshop costs 600 dollars geeze, not a lot of students can afford that.

Movies are the big rip off, they just aren't worth 24 dollars for a DVD or 20 to see it in theater. oh yea and its 30 if you want blu ray. complete rediculosity. when prices come down for movies, software, and music, then you will see an increase in overall revenue in my opinion.

im looking for

50 cents a song 4.99 album
4.99 for solid blu ray copy
99 cents for a hd digital rental
all apps 1 dollar