Pirating and conscience

[Dumb Ideologies]

My conscience is clear: BEHOLD, CHEAPSKATE LOGIC

1) If I had to pay for music, games or software, I'd simply not bother.
2) As a consequence, the existence of piracy makes no difference as to whether I'll buy something or not.
3) Since I wouldn't have bought it anyway, the company/artist/international Jewry is losing no money by me downloading it.
4) Me pirating does not make the product less available for others like traditional 'theft' does, or make others less likely to purchase it.

[Cosmopoles]

Stata

I'm not really sure why it's so expensive myself to be honest.

I pirated that last year. Good times. I had additional justification for that too. I could have used it in the university library for free but I wanted a copy at home as well for convenience.

[Conserative Morality]

I don't pirate, therefore, I don't feel like that when pirating. Problem solved.

[Lord-General Drache]

Right now I'm pirating some software worth around £1000 that I need for my degree, a part of me is actually feeling a bit iffy about this, perhaps even guilty? I'm not so sure. I rationalise this by saying to myself that I definitely wouldn't be buying this software if I otherwise couldn't download it, so I'm not depriving them of any opportunity cost. So my question is, have you ever felt like this when pirating? Should I feel bad?

Nope. I don't feel bad at all. I doubt very much major companies are significantly impacted by intertubial pirates. Ever since I discovered hulu, I pretty much stopped. It's a shame that the jackass who controls hulu decided, and I quote, "that the users do not appreciate the service offered because it is free. Therefore in 2010, we will be offering it at a premium so they may appreciate it." That's right, if someone doesn't appreciate what you do, charge 'em and they'll be grateful. I ran that by a CEO friend of mine who cracked up.

[Sarkhaan]

Right now I'm pirating some software worth around £1000 that I need for my degree, a part of me is actually feeling a bit iffy about this, perhaps even guilty? I'm not so sure. I rationalise this by saying to myself that I definitely wouldn't be buying this software if I otherwise couldn't download it, so I'm not depriving them of any opportunity cost. So my question is, have you ever felt like this when pirating? Should I feel bad?

The bold is a contradiction...either you do need it and would be buying it, or you don't need it. If you do need it, your rationalization of stealing fails. If you don't need it, why are you getting it?

[Conserative Morality]

My conscience is clear: BEHOLD, CHEAPSKATE LOGIC

1) If I had to pay for music, games or software, I'd simply not bother.

If you couldn't get it for free, you wouldn't purchase any new games, music, or software?

2) As a consequence, the existence of piracy makes no difference as to whether I'll buy something or not.

Or perhaps the reason you consider that is because you know you can pirate software/music with ease, not because you simply don't care enough.

3) Since I wouldn't have bought it anyway, the company/artist/international Jewry is losing no money by me downloading it.

See above.

4) Me pirating does not make the product less available for others like traditional 'theft' does, or make others less likely to purchase it.

It does, actually. It contributes to the skewed view of piracy in our modern world, and encourages others to pirate music/software, thus causing the companies a great loss of revenue. And is probably the reason for those damn later PC release dates.

[OverMedicatedSquirrels]

I refuse to recognize 'intellectual property.' It's an intangible concept, and the power is held not by the creators, but the distributors. Take music for example. When you get sued for illegally downloading music, it's not the artist who sues you, it's the RIAA, and they keep all the money.

[Hydesland]

The bold is a contradiction...either you do need it and would be buying it, or you don't need it. If you do need it, your rationalization of stealing fails. If you don't need it, why are you getting it?

Look at Cosmopoles post, I'm in the same situation. I can just use the IT labs, but I'd rather be able to use it at home over Christmas (it would be an advantage), so I don't completely need it to the extent I would pay for it, but I do need it somewhat.

[Playing In The Water]

Oh, this isn't about how some Somali 'pirates' are actually local fishermen trying to stop illegal dumping of chemicals and nuclear waste in their waters by advanced nations which kills their fish stocks and poisons them, only to be arrested and charged the same as the violent gangs that hold vessels hostage?

My bad. Carry on!

[Czardas]

Piracy ≠ theft. I wish people would stop making that comparison. What pirating is is copyright infringement, a completely different offense, more akin to operating a car without a license or something.

Basically, when buying software or CDs or something like that, you're purchasing a license to use the intellectual property of someone else. The concept of intellectual property indicates that your use of said property can only occur with the consent of the owner. Hence, pirating software or music is essentially using someone else's property without their consent (in the form of a license) and is thus more closely akin to rape.

Of course, if you purchase software or music or a game or something and the CD breaks, or the software is corrupted by a virus, or something, you're justified in obtaining a free copy from elsewhere (if not the manufacturer, then an illegal download), since the license is still active. It's only if the license expires that you need to repurchase whatever it is.

[Astholm]

Apart from using Windows (which was OEM, original equipment manufacturer CD-ROM version of Windows Vista), I've used open-source where possible, like HTTrack, PortableApps etc., so piracy isn't that much of an issue for me.

[New Kereptica]

My conscience is clear: BEHOLD, CHEAPSKATE LOGIC

1) If I had to pay for music, games or software, I'd simply not bother.

If you couldn't get it for free, you wouldn't purchase any new games, music, or software?
[quote]

Yes. I'd either use free alternatives (those developed and released as free; GIMP, for example, as opposed to pirating Photoshop) or not bother.

[Conserative Morality]

Yes. I'd either use free alternatives (those developed and released as free; GIMP, for example, as opposed to pirating Photoshop) or not bother.

For everything? I find that hard to believe.

[New Kereptica]

Yes. I'd either use free alternatives (those developed and released as free; GIMP, for example, as opposed to pirating Photoshop) or not bother.

For everything? I find that hard to believe.

Find me one piece of software that I could not replace with a free alternative.

[Hydesland]

Yes. I'd either use free alternatives (those developed and released as free; GIMP, for example, as opposed to pirating Photoshop) or not bother.

There's not really a free adequate alternative to this software, and if there was I wouldn't know how to use it and the people I submit my coursework into wouldn't be able to use it either.

[New Kereptica]

Yes. I'd either use free alternatives (those developed and released as free; GIMP, for example, as opposed to pirating Photoshop) or not bother.

There's not really a free adequate alternative to this software, and if there was I wouldn't know how to use it and the people I submit my coursework into wouldn't be able to use it either.

I'm not condemning piracy, merely rationalizing, to a degree, my own.

[Lord-General Drache]

Yes. I'd either use free alternatives (those developed and released as free; GIMP, for example, as opposed to pirating Photoshop) or not bother.

For everything? I find that hard to believe.

Find me one piece of software that I could not replace with a free alternative.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_ ... tification

[New Kereptica]

Yes. I'd either use free alternatives (those developed and released as free; GIMP, for example, as opposed to pirating Photoshop) or not bother.

For everything? I find that hard to believe.

Find me one piece of software that I could not replace with a free alternative.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_ ... tification

That's not a piece of software?

[Lord-General Drache]

Yes. I'd either use free alternatives (those developed and released as free; GIMP, for example, as opposed to pirating Photoshop) or not bother.

For everything? I find that hard to believe.

Find me one piece of software that I could not replace with a free alternative.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_ ... tification

That's not a piece of software?

Is so. It just has a massive database as part of it.

[New Kereptica]

Yes. I'd either use free alternatives (those developed and released as free; GIMP, for example, as opposed to pirating Photoshop) or not bother.

For everything? I find that hard to believe.

Find me one piece of software that I could not replace with a free alternative.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_ ... tification

That's not a piece of software?

Is so. It just has a massive database as part of it.

The process of automated fingerprint identification is not a piece of software; it is a process that is done by many pieces of software, of which I am sure there are free examples.

[Station 12]

You bought a light bulb for your lamp. After a while, it burns out.

Are you going to steal one to replace it?

No.

That would require physical effort, something that I am not capable of. Furthermore, there would be one less lightbulb in the shop that I stole it from.

Is there one less copy of the game if I pirate it? Obviously not.

[Central Slavia]

I see these ideas not worth a spittle.
I try to use free software for everything, since i want to support them.
I also try to buy music which is not expensive, and which i like (like the Boney M anthology) just to show the publishing companies what is the right way - for that price , it comes slighltly cheaper than some piracy (ed2k can be slow)

I once wrote an article on this
http://nerdfighters.ning.com/profiles/b ... toothbrush

[Thethunderdome]

Right now I'm pirating some software worth around £1000 that I need for my degree, a part of me is actually feeling a bit iffy about this, perhaps even guilty? I'm not so sure. I rationalise this by saying to myself that I definitely wouldn't be buying this software if I otherwise couldn't download it, so I'm not depriving them of any opportunity cost. So my question is, have you ever felt like this when pirating? Should I feel bad?

It's not stealing, its copyright infringement. And who doesn't have a jolly good time in infringing some copyrights?

[Nulono]

Is it stealing from Aquafina if I drink from the ocean?

[Nulono]

You bought a light bulb for your lamp. After a while, it burns out.

Are you going to steal one to replace it?

No.

That would require physical effort, something that I am not capable of. Furthermore, there would be one less lightbulb in the shop that I stole it from.

Is there one less copy of the game if I pirate it? Obviously not.

You win an internet.