An excuse for Piracy.

[Sjakie]

- If a game doesn't have a demo and only shows stupid teasers and/or cinematic trailers, i will download it to give it a try. That's basically the 'try before you buy'. If it's good i buy it. If not: ctrl+a de;ete.
- If i cant buy a game/software/music/movie in my country: i will download it since the product doesn't have any copyrights in my country and that makes it legal according to Dutch law (if there is no copyright for my country/region, then it's legal) But since digital distro came that hardly happens anymore.
- In case of copy protection (AC2 anyone) it is legal according to Dutch law to make/have a backup copy for your own use (all stuff you own btw). How you get that copy is unmentioned so it's legal to torrent games that way as long as you own the original!

This is when i 'pirate' stuff. It's good to be Dutch

 

[AndyFromMonday]

How about we use the resources dedicated to combat piracy to combat actual crimes? I find that murder, rape and stealing deserve more attention. Nowadays someone is labeled a criminal for doing something as harmless as pirating a $3 song.

And yes, I did just say stealing. Whilst piracy is technically stealing I can't really look at it as a serious crime. What's worse? A 15 year old kid downloading an album or a man with a mask breaking into grandma's house and stealing her jewelry?

 

[Arehexes]

My reason is because I have like 40+ DS games I don't want to lug all those carts around (I'm ADD-ish with playing games and get tired of what I"m playing in like 6 minutes). So I have a way to keep my games at home safe, but still be able to play them. I don't care if anyone believes that or not, but it makes college life easy without keeping up with all my games in the dorm.

 

[guntotingtomcat]

Prostitution is different. It involves arguments about freedom and integrity etc.
If someone produces a piece of music/film/game, I believe they deserve to be paid for it. Just because the internet makes it easier to steal, doesn't change the fact that you're taking property that doesn't belong to you. If people think that's okay, then they should go ahead but they shouldn't pretend it's anything other than theft.

Also, if everyone in society obeyed the laws, society would be happier which would make obeying the laws right. (Obviously with the exception of laws designed to needlessly harm people eg Nazi's, Iran, North Korea etc)

 

[guntotingtomcat]

Piracy's illegal! If you really support a band/film/game you should spend money on it!!!
And hey, if your not sure you will like it, here's an idea. YOU DON'T HAVE TO GET IT!!!

So is prostitution in the U.S while here in Australia it's legal, something being against the law does not make it wrong. It simply makes it against the law.

Prostitution is different. It involves arguments about freedom and integrity etc.
If someone produces a piece of music/film/game, I believe they deserve to be paid for it. Just because the internet makes it easier to steal, doesn't change the fact that you're taking property that doesn't belong to you. If people think that's okay, then they should go ahead but they shouldn't pretend it's anything other than theft.

Also, if everyone in society obeyed the laws, society would be happier which would make obeying the laws right. (Obviously with the exception of laws designed to needlessly harm people eg Nazi's, Iran, North Korea etc)

 

[DanielSPG]

And yes, I did just say stealing. Whilst piracy is technically stealing I can't really look at it as a serious crime. What's worse? A 15 year old kid downloading an album or a man with a mask breaking into grandma's house and stealing her jewelry?

stealin the jewelry, dont think any'1 is gonna argue that. But while we are on the subject of what is worse?

Downloading an album or sneaking out an album in ur jacket from ur local music store?
Downloading an 100 albums in a year (dont say thats an unrealistic number) or pulling of an insurance fraud worth the same amount of money?

Piracy is not a victimless crime. But as I said in an earlier thread, if the "victims" are reimbursed through other means then pure selling of copy's of albums etc then there would be no victim and no crime... Change the rules!

 

[bam13302]

So today I got into an argument with a friend who labeled me a criminal because I pirate a fair bit of software. I've used up all my usual reasoning on him until so I had to think of something new. It was today that I also downloaded Linkin Park's new album, A Thousand Suns and the only word I can think to describe it is just bad. It's really bad, it has nothing of the Linkin Park of old and even if it wasn't by them it would still be a shitty album. This is what I used in my argument, that if I paid good money for that at a store I would be outraged that I had wasted my hard earned cash. As it is I'm just annoyed that a band I used to quite like has gone so downhill (though that's not new news or anything).

So Escapists, I pose you two questions.
1. What is your excuse for Piracy?
2. What did you think of Linkin Park's new album? It's alright you can say it's bad.

The try it before you buy actually requires you to buy stuff that you did enjoy enough not to delete off your hard drive, and if you do end up buying a copy of everything on your HDD, you will at least have the defense, i downloaded it because i couldn't find my legal copy, give them any proof you have a legal copy, and your good (i know this works with emulators, and i would not be surprised if that worked with other things as well)
1. If i pirate something, it is so i can have access to a piece of software that i already bought but lost
2. Dont really care, dont listen to music much anymore

 

[Talshere]

I find it amusing that musicians at least complain about youtube.

For little know bands it provides HUGE exposure for FREE!

For the big guys its not the albums making the money, and even then, because people want it for their MP3 player, smartphone, stereo etc. they buy the album anyway.

You see some of these artists complaining as they cruise away from a gig millions in the black.

 

[deathandtaxes]

Prostitution is different. It involves arguments about freedom and integrity etc.
If someone produces a piece of music/film/game, I believe they deserve to be paid for it. Just because the internet makes it easier to steal, doesn't change the fact that you're taking property that doesn't belong to you. If people think that's okay, then they should go ahead but they shouldn't pretend it's anything other than theft.

Also, if everyone in society obeyed the laws, society would be happier which rent. It involves arguments about freedom and integrity etc.would make obeying the laws right. (Obviously with the exception of laws designed to needlessly harm people eg Nazi's, Iran, North Korea etc)

So you think that every time you use someone's copyright you should have to pay royalties why is this only true of commercial media or did you forget that every time you quote someone in school assignments you are using someone copyrighted ideas for your own personal gain.

This is simply a double standard that exists in society it is not about the rule of law or about stealing since in both cases you are not depriving someone of physical property it is a question of compensation for ideas.

Which seems only to exist when the ideas are put into a published medium, while we seem free to quote peoples life's work without paying them a cent. Sure we must acknowledge them but I don't see anyone disputing who owns true blood while torrenting it.

Also note all laws are designed to restrict personal freedoms in attempt to create safety and harmony in society something being the law does not make it right, just, good, effective or indeed logical or sane.

 

[LooK iTz Jinjo]

Ahoy mateys! I think there is no excuse for it, most like reasons, reasons I normally don't agree with, but in the end it's your call.
Testing something before buying it it's a lame excuse, you won't starve to death for spending 30 bucks on a CD, so, be reasonable and spend the money it costs.

So you think that every time you use someone's copyright you should have to pay royalties why is this only true of commercial media or did you forget that every time you quote someone in school assignments you are using someone copyrighted ideas for your own personal gain.

This is simply a double standard that exists in society it is not about the rule of law or about stealing since in both cases you are not depriving someone of physical property it is a question of compensation for ideas.

Which seems only to exist when the ideas are put into a published medium, while we seem free to quote peoples life's work without paying them a cent. Sure we must acknowledge them but I don't see anyone disputing who owns true blood while torrenting it.

Also note all laws are designed to restrict personal freedoms in attempt to create safety and harmony in society something being the law does not make it right, just, good, effective or indeed logical or sane.

That's a cheap technisism, quoting a part of I don't know, Atlas Shrugged at school or whatever, is not as near as making copies of it in word and giving it for free to everyone who doesn't want to pay for the damn book.

 

[Jewrean]

I share the South Park creators view on Piracy. It can be found in this episode:

http://allsp.com/l.php?id=e105

Oh noez! The artists can't get that Gold Plated Shark Tank! OMG! Sobz...

I will also point out that some things (such as South Park, Family Guy, Futurama, etc) are FREE online anyway legally. Not only that but a LOT of music is free and free to stream on sites like LastFm.

Personally I don't really see a difference in being able to stream something and store it on my hard drive. I wasn't going to buy it anyway so no difference to the artists in question.

What I really hate is whenever people make up bullshit statistics about how much the movie industry is losing due to piracy. So... what you think that dude that has 1000 pirated movies would actually buy them real if piracy wasn't an option? LOLS! Sure he might buy a couple, but are people really that naive that any copy of their work made = loss of revenue?

 

[LooK iTz Jinjo]

I share the South Park creators view on Piracy. It can be found in this episode:

http://allsp.com/l.php?id=e105

Oh noez! The artists can't get that Gold Plated Shark Tank! OMG! Sobz...

I will also point out that some things (such as South Park, Family Guy, Futurama, etc) are FREE online anyway legally. Not only that but a LOT of music is free and free to stream on sites like LastFm.

True, but lastfm has a contract with the music companies for mutual benefit, as long it's through there, it's not the same as that dude over there putting it on torrent.

 

[deathandtaxes]

Ahoy mateys! I think there is no excuse for it, most like reasons, reasons I normally don't agree with, but in the end it's your call.
Testing something before buying it it's a lame excuse, you won't starve to death for spending 30 bucks on a CD, so, be reasonable and spend the money it costs.

So you think that every time you use someone's copyright you should have to pay royalties why is this only true of commercial media or did you forget that every time you quote someone in school assignments you are using someone copyrighted ideas for your own personal gain.

This is simply a double standard that exists in society it is not about the rule of law or about stealing since in both cases you are not depriving someone of physical property it is a question of compensation for ideas.

Which seems only to exist when the ideas are put into a published medium, while we seem free to quote peoples life's work without paying them a cent. Sure we must acknowledge them but I don't see anyone disputing who owns true blood while torrenting it.

Also note all laws are designed to restrict personal freedoms in attempt to create safety and harmony in society something being the law does not make it right, just, good, effective or indeed logical or sane.

That's a cheap technisism, quoting a part of I don't know, Atlas Shrugged at school or whatever, is not as near as making copies of it in word and giving it for free to everyone who doesn't want to pay for the damn book.

You seem to have failed epically since you don't realise I'm talking about non-fiction works such as for example medical Journal articles which (while the published journal itself you need to pay for) can be read for free anywhere you wish and quoted from essentially using the most important part of someone's work while not paying them a cent.

Of course because you don't seem to grasp that ideas are worth just as much if not more than simple property I don't see why I'm bothering.

 

[Jewrean]

True, but lastfm has a contract with the music companies for mutual benefit, as long it's through there, it's not the same as that dude over there putting it on torrent.

Personally I don't see a difference. The person in question is still listening to the song without actually buying it. In that example if an album can be streamed online anyway then there really isn't any difference.

 

[Piorn]

Let me share a little story...
About a year ago, I bought ME1 for my PC. Everything went fine until it asked me for my registration code. I entered it, only to be asked for it again, and again, and again. Being unable to launch the game, I contacted the support service, who,after letting me wait for one week, gave me useless answers like reinstalling the game (which I , at that point, had already done twice). So what did I do? PIRATE A GAME I ALREADY BOUGHT. Now if that's not a good excuse.

 

[Frungy]

1. DRM. You'll find that most games don't advertise their DRM method on the box or in the online description. I therefore view cracking their DRM as legitimate since I was only informed of it as a condition of the sale AFTER I bought the game, and most games stores have a no return policy (especially online ones). Having a little box pop up when I'm about to install a product I bought saying, "Click to agree to our insane DRM policy" or don't install the game is not legal and is not reasonable, and personally I take the view that at the time when I entered into the contract (i.e. when I bought the game) I believed that I would have reasonable use of the product I bought. Tacking on restrictions like, "You must register the game and disclose your identity" are illegal in my opinion, in fact any requirement that isn't clearly advertised is illegal. If a games company ever tries to sue me for DRM violation they'd better be prepared to be counter-sued for breach of contract, false advertising and whatever else I can pay my legal team to dream up. Starcraft 2 is a good example of a game that did it right, they advertise clearly on the front of the box, "Battle.net registration required". I have no problems with that. It's when you're hit with surprises that I draw the line and go online to find a crack to bypass the nazi-like invasions of my privacy.

2. Availability. I live in Japan, and a lot of stuff just isn't available here and never will be. What I can I order online but sometimes they'll only order the Japanese version, without English. So sometimes I download TV programmes and stuff. I am NOT watching TV in Japanese every day, or within a month I'd be unable to speak English (I already speak Japanese for most of the day, at home I need to remind myself what English sounds like). Books are particularly hard to get hold of, so the same logic applies. I buy a copy if I can find it, but otherwise I download it.

3. Ownership. If I own a game and for some reason my DVD gets scratched (I have a young child in the house who doesn't understand the concept of DVDs and scratches) then I fail to see why I should order a new copy. I own the DVD, I own the box, I have a valid serial number. I download a new copy. End of story.

 

[LooK iTz Jinjo]

Personally I don't see a difference. The person in question is still listening to the song without actually buying it. In that example if an album can be streamed online anyway then there really isn't any difference.

Wait, doesn't LastFM, and other streaming sites uses subscriptions for this?

 

[Jewrean]

Legitimate excuses / reasons for 'piracy':

- The property that you payed actual money for does not fulfill its intended purpose as advertised and the support to fix the issue was minimal or not apparent.

- The property in question is in danger of being damaged (ie: Children in the house). You decide to make a personal backup of something you already own. Should you decide to give the game away or sell it then you also need to destroy the copy you made for it to be legal.

- The property can already be accessed or acquired without payment legally.

- The property owners dared you to steal it lol: