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Editorial: "How piracy changed my life"

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Re: Editorial: "How piracy changed my life"

#11

Post by rcush »

On the one hand this chap, "[downloaded] an infinite number of games and software - all illegally," while also refers to people who pirate out of greed as - and this is verbatim - "bumholes". Despite the obvious hyperbole, it seems very likely that this man himself was once a bumhole.

The story presented by the writer is one that is largely inapplicable today. Developers and other content creators have got a better grip on regional pricing, most markets see software being released particularly since online distribution, and the software market has seen more budget alternatives to big name brands become available.

This response may appear rather dishevelled, but that is because I'm not sure what the point is that the article is attempting to touch on. The quasi-Marxist monologue is tired when the quality of free, or cheap software today is very high and so some wishy-washy argument about self-betterment through piracy is left looking rather weak.

There are some fairly strong arguments in favour of piracy, some even quite convincing. This is not one of them.

Re: Editorial: "How piracy changed my life"

#12

Post by [deleted] »

chasing wrote: post #5

I'm glad things worked out for Vlad -- when I was younger, I pirated a fair amount of software and games, and, like him, I think it enabled me to get inspired to learn more about computers in general and, indeed, now I stare at them all day for work. But. I'm not sure what the bigger point is, here. Should we be okay with piracy as long as the pirate is using it for self-betterment? Do games count for that? What abou…

[deleted]

Re: Editorial: "How piracy changed my life"

#13

Post by Devilboy »

chasing wrote: post #8
Devilboy wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stealing a car deprives someone of a car. Copying a car does not.

I think you understand my point. In a general sense, is doing something criminal okay if it's for self-betterment? Pirating Windows does rob Microsoft of some small portion of their rights as a creator.

Piracy for personal use is a 'victimless' (don't bite my head off please) crime, that's why it's OK here. Stealing is not.

Re: Editorial: "How piracy changed my life"

#14

Post by lucian1900 »

chasing wrote: post #5

I'm glad things worked out for Vlad -- when I was younger, I pirated a fair amount of software and games, and, like him, I think it enabled me to get inspired to learn more about computers in general and, indeed, now I stare at them all day for work. But. I'm not sure what the bigger point is, here. Should we be okay with piracy as long as the pirate is using it for self-betterment? Do games count for that? What abou…

The point is that taking strong measures against copyright infringement is stupid. Many (if not most) of the people that do it would pay a reasonable price if it was possible for them to do so.

Also, stealing a car is nothing like copyright infringement. There is absolutely no parallel you can draw there.

Re: Editorial: "How piracy changed my life"

#15

Post by TheAmazingIdiot »

How intelligent is it for companies to go after people who trade and know your program, that are not paying _now_? Seems a waste of resources attacking who might be your customer, in both money and good-will.

Example: I'm in school for drafting/design tech. Due to the school which I am taking classes, we learn Autocad and Solidworks. Both have student versions available, and both are with nasty "We'll send you the serials sometime next week".

So I went onto the local pirate archive and grabbed a copy of both programs. Half an hour later, they're installed and they work flawlessly. Fellow students are still waiting for the serials through email sometime next week.

I do think its different for a for-profit enterprise to go out and pirate everything under the sun. If you make money, you should pass the buck, so to speak.

Read my history to rehash the 1 day old long drawn out argument about DRM. No sense in repeating all of that.

Re: Editorial: "How piracy changed my life"

#16

Post by chasing »

Devilboy wrote: post #13
chasing wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you understand my point. In a general sense, is doing something criminal okay if it's for self-betterment? Pirating Windows does rob Microsoft of some small portion of their rights as a creator.

Piracy for personal use is a 'victimless' (don't bite my head off please) crime, that's why it's OK here. Stealing is not.

Piracy is different from stealing, yeah. But I find it kind of short-sighted this notion that it's "victimless."

Not intending to bite your head off. :-)

Re: Editorial: "How piracy changed my life"

#17

Post by k-mcgrady »

lucian1900 wrote: post #14
chasing wrote: post #5

I'm glad things worked out for Vlad -- when I was younger, I pirated a fair amount of software and games, and, like him, I think it enabled me to get inspired to learn more about computers in general and, indeed, now I stare at them all day for work. But. I'm not sure what the bigger point is, here. Should we be okay with piracy as long as the pirate is using it for self-betterment? Do games count for that? What abou…

The point is that taking strong measures against copyright infringement is stupid. Many (if not most) of the people that do it would pay a reasonable price if it was possible for them to do so. Also, stealing a car is nothing like copyright infringement. There is absolutely no parallel you can draw there.

> "Many (if not most) of the people that do it would pay a reasonable price if it was possible for them to do so."

And the fact that they can't afford it gives them justification for stealing it? Would it not make more sense, that if you can't afford something you aren't entitled to it? If a poor or homeless person were to steal food from a shop they wouldn't be allowed to do it because, although they would like to pay, it isn't possible for them to do so.

Re: Editorial: "How piracy changed my life"

#18

Post by lumberjack »

meritt wrote: post #9

It's always been rumored that Adobe software, especially Photoshop, has been easy to pirate to encourage adoption with a user base that might otherwise seek alternatives. As those people hone their skills and eventually find jobs, Photoshop is the norm and what their employers purchase licensing for.

Same with Windows and Office. It's better to have them pirate your program than run somebody's else.

Re: Editorial: "How piracy changed my life"

#19

Post by TheAmazingIdiot »

chasing wrote: post #8
Devilboy wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stealing a car deprives someone of a car. Copying a car does not.

I think you understand my point. In a general sense, is doing something criminal okay if it's for self-betterment? Pirating Windows does rob Microsoft of some small portion of their rights as a creator.

This post is meant as a response to DevilBoy and in part you, Chasing.

Blending both concepts of copyright violation and theft together, what happens in this common situation?

  1. I go to a store and buy an audio CD. I'm given the receipt.
  2. My audio CD is stolen at some later date. I still have the receipt.
We know a theft happens. Someone stole the disc. However, where is my unique copy created by the rights holder? Is it on the CD? The receipt? Or perhaps more intangible as some sort of judgement (think more like metadata)?

Is the thief guilty of copyright infringement?

Edit: as meeting this line of thought out, I realize there are 2nd hand shops that can legally sell media of all types (cd's included). How this works is the person (me) goes in with the intent to sell the disc. They give me a price, which we come to a meeting of the minds. Sale occurs based upon first-sale doctrine.

This would indicate that the proof of copyright does not exist in the receipt. So would the rightful copy retain with me if there is no meeting of the minds (theft)?

Re: Editorial: "How piracy changed my life"

#20

Post by chasing »

lucian1900 wrote: post #14
chasing wrote: post #5

I'm glad things worked out for Vlad -- when I was younger, I pirated a fair amount of software and games, and, like him, I think it enabled me to get inspired to learn more about computers in general and, indeed, now I stare at them all day for work. But. I'm not sure what the bigger point is, here. Should we be okay with piracy as long as the pirate is using it for self-betterment? Do games count for that? What abou…

The point is that taking strong measures against copyright infringement is stupid. Many (if not most) of the people that do it would pay a reasonable price if it was possible for them to do so. Also, stealing a car is nothing like copyright infringement. There is absolutely no parallel you can draw there.

I shouldn't have made the comment about the car. Too many people are misinterpreting what I meant... I'm not equating the crime of pirating Windows and stealing a car. Very different things.

But, are crimes in general justifiable if the person committing them does it for self-betterment?

Yeah, probably in many cases. Possibly in this case. But I also worry that it becomes a rallying point for piracy in general. That's what concerns me. I don't think most people pirate media for self-betterment. They do so because they don't want to pay.

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