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Scene bust triggered historic drop in ‘pirate’ releases

torrentfreak.com

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Re: Scene bust triggered historic drop in ‘pirate’ releases

#11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is being taken?

Would love to hear your best guess/rationalization for how nothing is being taken.

These aren't new arguments, really... but when I steal a cookie from the cookie jar, there's one less cookie in the cookie jar. When I steal a movie on a torrent site, the copyright owner didn't lose a copy of the movie.

One can argue that it represents an economic loss insofar as the person who stole it isn't going to buy a copy now, but a response you often hear to that is relatively few who pirate content would have paid for the content if piracy were unavailable.

Re: Scene bust triggered historic drop in ‘pirate’ releases

#12
post #4

One of the biggest successes of the music and movie industry is getting everyone to call unlicensed distribution “piracy”. It equates a completely non-violent act with a very violent act that was once a capital crime.

I too avoid calling it piracy. Instead I call it "taking something you know you're not supposed to take." Edit: Really love these downvotes. Shows that people who engage in this act would rather have it called piracy because it's easier to brush off than having to look in the mirror and admit they're obviously doing something wrong. Sure they can mangle definitions of common words and perform incredible mental gymnas…

The downvotes are because of your simpleton comment that deliberately ignores any nuance.

It just comes across like you're stoking an argument rather than making a useful point.

Re: Scene bust triggered historic drop in ‘pirate’ releases

#13
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would love to hear your best guess/rationalization for how nothing is being taken.

These aren't new arguments, really... but when I steal a cookie from the cookie jar, there's one less cookie in the cookie jar. When I steal a movie on a torrent site, the copyright owner didn't lose a copy of the movie. One can argue that it represents an economic loss insofar as the person who stole it isn't going to buy a copy now, but a response you often hear to that is relatively few who pirate content would ha…

> When I steal a movie on a torrent site

Is this the right thing to do? Is this something you should be doing? Is this something you feel you have the right to do?

Remember that I didn't mention anything about economic loss.

Re: Scene bust triggered historic drop in ‘pirate’ releases

#16

One of the biggest successes of the music and movie industry is getting everyone to call unlicensed distribution “piracy”. It equates a completely non-violent act with a very violent act that was once a capital crime.

One of the biggest successes of the music and movie industry

*from the 1660's https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/462700/what-is-t...

Re: Scene bust triggered historic drop in ‘pirate’ releases

#17

One of the biggest successes of the music and movie industry is getting everyone to call unlicensed distribution “piracy”. It equates a completely non-violent act with a very violent act that was once a capital crime.

The word has a surprisingly long history.

> piracy

> 2. fig. The appropriation and reproduction of an invention or work of another for one's own profit, without authority; infringement of the rights conferred by a patent or copyright.

> 1771: Luckombe Hist. Print. 76 “They..would suffer by this act of piracy, since it was likely to prove a very bad edition.”

> 1808: Med. Jrnl. XIX. 520 “He is charged with `Literary Piracy', and an `unprincipled suppression of the source from whence he drew his information'.”

> 1855: Brewster Newton I. iv. 71 “With the view of securing his invention of the telescope from foreign piracy.”

Re: Scene bust triggered historic drop in ‘pirate’ releases

#18
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These aren't new arguments, really... but when I steal a cookie from the cookie jar, there's one less cookie in the cookie jar. When I steal a movie on a torrent site, the copyright owner didn't lose a copy of the movie. One can argue that it represents an economic loss insofar as the person who stole it isn't going to buy a copy now, but a response you often hear to that is relatively few who pirate content would ha…

> When I steal a movie on a torrent site Is this the right thing to do? Is this something you should be doing? Is this something you feel you have the right to do? Remember that I didn't mention anything about economic loss.

You called it "taking something you know you're not supposed to take", and the thread has been responding to the "taking something" part alone.

Whether or not I believe it's the right thing to do seems like it'd depend on how much respect I have for copyright law, and whether any harm it causes is sufficiently abhorrent to me according to my personal ethics.

The economic argument is part of assessing the harm it causes.

Re: Scene bust triggered historic drop in ‘pirate’ releases

#20
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These aren't new arguments, really... but when I steal a cookie from the cookie jar, there's one less cookie in the cookie jar. When I steal a movie on a torrent site, the copyright owner didn't lose a copy of the movie. One can argue that it represents an economic loss insofar as the person who stole it isn't going to buy a copy now, but a response you often hear to that is relatively few who pirate content would ha…

> When I steal a movie on a torrent site Is this the right thing to do? Is this something you should be doing? Is this something you feel you have the right to do? Remember that I didn't mention anything about economic loss.

You're absolutely right- this is an ethical issue. Perhaps it's a moral imperative to not pay massive conglomerates for a "license" to view content, or perhaps it's just a good idea to not support the privatization of culture. Personally, I won't judge you if you decide to pay off Disney to stay out of legal trouble, but...you know you're doing something wrong, right? Same if you're supporting Spotify's exploitative business model, even if you try to justify it by pointing at the scraps actual artists get.

Oh, you mean you're trying to say unauthorized copying is unethical? Oh, darn it, scratch that. Sorry!

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