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Thoughts on "Piracy".
eleman:
The current state of IP is such a complete disaster that there's really nothing that can be done other than to tear the whole thing down.
Should people be compensated for creating things? Sure.
Who should compensate them? The people that use/consume the creation.
But that's not what happens now, even without piracy. The MAFIAA taxes blank media. That's not just compensation because it steals from people who aren't consuming MAFIAA creations.
One. Big. Mess.
Burn it down.
-Renegade (November 23, 2014, 08:58 PM)
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Today IP is abused to skew the distribution of wealth. Its primary purpose is to make commodities out of thoughts and ideas, so that capital can buy them, and subsequently sell them to consumers at a substantial profit. The "compensating artists" point is no longer relevant, for most, albeit not all, of them earn their living by appearing on events and shows, rather than through royalties.
From this thoroughly political perspective, my conscience is free with respect to downloading things released by billion dollar firms.
For shareware released directly by the programmer, however, I check out the trial version. If I like it, I write to the programmer and tell them $39.99 is a lot of money here in Turkey, and I'd be really happy if they would give me a discount. They often do. Regardless of the discount, in the end I buy the software.
nosh:
I've pirated ever since my first PC in 1998 came pre-installed with a pirated copy of Win95, MS Office and whatever software I wanted from the seller's huge catalog (and could fit on the mammoth 1GB drive!). I pirate much less now- I need less and I also find it worthwhile paying for a good deal.
Music: I managed to get a Spotify premium membership. I had to go about signing up in a roundabout way and I pay nearly twice the official cost since it's not available in India. So I pay for my music now but technically am still on the wrong side of the law because I'm doing it without the content providers' blessings. :)
Software: I tend to buy apps that I think are good value for money even if they're available to pirate. Most mobile apps are surprisingly low priced compared to desktop apps. The only pirated app I have on my iPad costs $50 and it's something I use _maybe_ once a year.
Movies/TV shows: The broadband speeds and streaming services have a long way to go here - I see no reason to keep pirating once the situation improves.
I didn't start making the shift from pirating to paying because I woke up one lovely summer day with a different set of ethics. Arguments equating piracy with stealing physical items have never hit home with me. I've always known it's wrong on some level but it's too easy to come up with justifications. And it's easy to hide altogether if you don't talk about it.
In every single case that I've stopped pirating, I've done it for selfish reasons - the clean feeling you get when you're doing the right thing is a motivator but it's not enough to make most people make the change. I think that's a good sign, there's hope if you can get people to make a change appealing to nothing more than their own interests, when you go about things in a smart way. Lectures in morality may make people feel bad about themselves but usually don't change anything more than that.
Renegade:
For shareware released directly by the programmer, however, I check out the trial version. If I like it, I write to the programmer and tell them $39.99 is a lot of money here in Turkey, and I'd be really happy if they would give me a discount. They often do. Regardless of the discount, in the end I buy the software.
-eleman (November 24, 2014, 12:24 AM)
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This works.
I've had people email me before, and I never hesitate to offer them a steep discount. Those that ask for free licenses, well, sorry, but no. I want people to pay *something* because I want them to invest a bit in my software so that they value it and use it.
I also get the odd "I lost my license" email from people who never had a license. Not often, but every once in a while.
Now, before anyone jumps on me for advocating piracy above, my software has been on The Pirate Bay for YEARS and I have NEVER once complained. I've mentioned it, but that's not the same as complaining.
Arguments equating piracy with stealing physical items have never hit home with me.
-nosh (November 24, 2014, 03:21 AM)
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Same. Because the argument there is just silly.
If you make something, let's say a movie, and I download it without paying you, you are no worse off than before I downloaded it. I have not inflicted any actual harm on you. I might be better off, but that's debatable - you might be a horrible film maker and I might lose an hour or 2 of my life. :P
I've always known it's wrong on some level but it's too easy to come up with justifications.
-nosh (November 24, 2014, 03:21 AM)
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There are some very good arguments against copying being wrong, and they're good enough to deserve actual scrutiny.
So, whether copying is wrong is up for debate.
All too often we fall into politically correct traps set for us by vested interests. This is one topic where there is little honest debate.
Lectures in morality may make people feel bad about themselves but usually don't change anything more than that.
-nosh (November 24, 2014, 03:21 AM)
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"Morality" is often used to bludgeon people. It's possible to frame things to uplift people, but that takes a lot of effort.
I've rewritten countless, scathing, profane rants to be polite (and sometimes uplifting), and I can tell you... even just being polite can take serious effort.
40hz:
Arguments equating piracy with stealing physical items have never hit home with me.
-nosh (November 24, 2014, 03:21 AM)
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Same. Because the argument there is just silly.
If you make something, let's say a movie, and I download it without paying you, you are no worse off than before I downloaded it. I have not inflicted any actual harm on you. I might be better off, but that's debatable - you might be a horrible film maker and I might lose an hour or 2 of my life. :P
-Renegade (November 24, 2014, 05:51 AM)
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Seriously? That's such a sloppy bit of 'logic' (more like circular justification) that I'd think it was written by some government. ;D
:Thmbsup:
Renegade:
Seriously? That's such a sloppy bit of 'logic' that I'd think it was written by some government. ;D
-40hz (November 24, 2014, 06:55 AM)
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Yup. That was completely sloppy. You're right. No argument.
But it's one of those topics that I'm willing to poke at, but not willing to be very serious about, and certainly not willing to actually argue in a meaningful way. It's a waste of time because people already have their minds made up. Simply saying that there is another side is more than enough for most people to handle, and too much for a lot of them.
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