Can (Internet) Piracy ever be Justified?

[Owyn_Merrilin]

This is kind of tough, because anyone under the age of 40 who says they've never pirated anything in their life is a liar.

Oh hi there. What's it like being psychic and knowing everything? Must be weird, being able to make such claims and know you're right.

Okay, so it's hyperbole. Very, very slight hyperbole.

Edit: Also, you mean to tell me that you have never once:

Downloaded a movie
Downloaded an episode of a TV show
Downloaded an MP3
Downloaded a videogame
borrowed and made a copy of a CD
Borrowed and made a copy of a videogame
Borrowed and ripped a CD
Borrowed and installed a DRM free videogame
Or
Made a mix tape?

You forgot "Watched a youtube video and/or flash animation with a full song used without permission". Thats the one that catches people.

Also if you go to bars/clubs never underestimate how much music played there is pirated. You may not have pirated it yourself, but by patronizing a business that did you are supporting it.

Piracy is a very hard thing to not commit, or contribute to these days.

Yep, I added that to another post. Some people get way too sanctimonious about things they can't be sanctimonious about without also being hypocritical.

 

[Levitas1234]

Internet piracy can be justified, anything can be justified, it just depends what angle and perspective you're looking at it with. Look at Robbin Hood, he broke into people's houses and stole their assets and gave to the poor, everyone likes him though.
Now look at some dude who uploads a torrent, did anything change or did anyone notice/care after the torrent was put up? was anyone harmed? were poor ass sons of bitches helped?

Edit: i'm not a pirate btw

 

[Hive Mind]

If you've never done anything on that list, congratulations; you're either a saint, living in the stone age, or a liar.

Once again, your psychic abilities amaze me!

You know, most people would do things like provide research evidence and show how they came to these conclusions -- sources, interviews, tests, etc., etc. But I guess you can just say something you believe is true and it becomes fact. Amazing.

If you have anything to add to the discussion aside from sarcasm, please do. Otherwise, quit trolling; my hand is hovering over the report button as it is.

I'm sorry, is asking for you to supply evidence for your claims an act of trolling? I was under the assumption that this was a forum for discussion and most people like to support their opinions with fact.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

If you've never done anything on that list, congratulations; you're either a saint, living in the stone age, or a liar.

Once again, your psychic abilities amaze me!

You know, most people would do things like provide research evidence and show how they came to these conclusions -- sources, interviews, tests, etc., etc. But I guess you can just say something you believe is true and it becomes fact. Amazing.

If you have anything to add to the discussion aside from sarcasm, please do. Otherwise, quit trolling; my hand is hovering over the report button as it is.

I'm sorry, does asking for you to supply evidence for your claims an act of trolling? I was under the assumption that this was a forum for discussion and most people like to support their opinions with fact.

So what, do you want evidence that the things I listed were piracy, or what? If you're looking for evidence that they're all really common things, and that everybody with an internet connection has done at least one of them on accident if by no other means, then I'm pretty sure if I said the sky was blue, you would ask for peer reviewed proof that it wasn't actually green. Some things are just common knowledge.

 

[Levitas1234]

If you've never done anything on that list, congratulations; you're either a saint, living in the stone age, or a liar.

Once again, your psychic abilities amaze me!

You know, most people would do things like provide research evidence and show how they came to these conclusions -- sources, interviews, tests, etc., etc. But I guess you can just say something you believe is true and it becomes fact. Amazing.

If you have anything to add to the discussion aside from sarcasm, please do. Otherwise, quit trolling; my hand is hovering over the report button as it is.

I'm sorry, does asking for you to supply evidence for your claims an act of trolling? I was under the assumption that this was a forum for discussion and most people like to support their opinions with fact.

No but trying to get a rise out of him does, especially when you're asking for the impossible, maybe you should just be honest so that he doesn't need to track your download history and see if you've ever lived in the stone age.

 

[Hive Mind]

Internet piracy can be justified, anything can be justified, it just depends what angle and perspective you're looking at it with.

It can? I'll assume you are knowingly exaggerating.

 

[Hive Mind]

Especially when you're asking for the impossible.

If it is impossible to prove their claims, how did they come to them?

 

[Levitas1234]

Internet piracy can be justified, anything can be justified, it just depends what angle and perspective you're looking at it with.

It can? I'll assume you are knowingly exaggerating.

Nope, even murder and rape can be justified with the right perspective, there's no universal judicial court that decides what's right and wrong. To deny this is ignorance, for there actually is no universal judicial court, it's all based on perspective and thought. If rape was socially accepted, it would be justified in court, however that does not mean it's justified.

 

[Hive Mind]

Everybody with an internet connection has done at least one of them on accident.

Do you have any proof, or? It's fine if you want to make claims with zero evidence, just don't claim them as fact.

 

[Levitas1234]

Especially when you're asking for the impossible.

If it is impossible to prove their claims, how did they come to them?

Through logical reasoning, statistically, most people on the internet have done what he stated. It's not even a question, that should be pretty obvious.

 

[gavinshai]

Buddy of mine and I both had the same install issue with Mass Effect 2 for the PC. Disk 2 just would not for any reason be recognized by the installer. Computer would recognize it. Could start the installer from disk 2 and be told to insert disk 1 but as soon as disk 1 finished it just wouldn't continue the install.

Knowing a bit more about such things than he did I ended up having to burn an ISO of the install disk to the hard drive and mount it to a virtual drive to finish my install.

I don't remember exactly but I think it was between 1 and 2 weeks before anything other than doing that was posted on bioware's official forums and numerous people were having the same problem even after getting the disk replaced.

Buddy got a torrent installer then used his purchased key and cerberus code. So far as I can tell its the only time I can recall anything I'd call a "justification" for piracy.

In general though I honestly have to question the fact that in order to make your legally allowed backup most times you would have to break some silly DRM or other copy protection which violates the DMCA. That is one legal precedent I'm looking forward to seeing. Which overrules the other my right to have a backup copy of my media which I do not own but have license to use, or the breaking of copy protection which is required to obtain said backup. I'm sure it won't be long before the matter is brought up in court.

 

[darth.pixie]

Legally? No. But the law has always been a black and white area.

Morally? There are grey areas and it depends if the morality was high enough to begin with. It can be excused in many ways and it depends on each person's opinion if it's justified or not. If the game has DRM, if it's not in your area, if you don't have the cash but will buy it when you do. Some people don't care even if you say that you will pirate and never pay anything even for a game that costs 5$. Others will hit you over the head because you borrowed a game.

Considering that no one has done an accurate study (which is quite frankly impossible to do) people are just going to form their own opinions and even if there were a study, some wouldn't believe it. Not to mention that circumstances are different for things like books (which can be enjoyed better with a hard copy) and games (that have no difference between a pirate one and a bought one)

 

[Lem0nade Inlay]

Everybody with an internet connection has done at least one of them on accident.

Do you have any proof, or? It's fine if you want to make claims with zero evidence, just don't claim them as fact.

Can you prove you've never pirated anything?

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Everybody with an internet connection has done at least one of them on accident.

Do you have any proof, or? It's fine if you want to make claims with zero evidence, just don't claim them as fact.

Hang on, I've got to get a government grant in order to run a sociological study which answers a question that everybody already knows the answer to. That'll take, what, six years and 20 million dollars?

 

[Levitas1234]

Everybody with an internet connection has done at least one of them on accident.

Do you have any proof, or? It's fine if you want to make claims with zero evidence, just don't claim them as fact.

and also, it wasn't omyn claiming you have pirated, it was you claiming you've never pirated and omyn asking you if that's true or not.

Hence "you mean to tell me you've never...?"

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Everybody with an internet connection has done at least one of them on accident.

Do you have any proof, or? It's fine if you want to make claims with zero evidence, just don't claim them as fact.

and also, it wasn't omyn claiming you have pirated, it was you claiming you've never pirated and omyn asking you if that's true or not.

Hence "you mean to tell me you've never...?"

Quit feeding the troll and mash the report button. This thread has been thoroughly derailed, and if Hive Mind didn't break the don't be a dick rule, I don't know what would.

Edit: However, thank you for having my back. I appreciate it.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

If it will never come to your region or your region is given an inferior version. In the latter case you should still buy it then download the "true" version. These are really the only two times.

 

[Hive Mind]

Everybody with an internet connection has done at least one of them on accident.

Do you have any proof, or? It's fine if you want to make claims with zero evidence, just don't claim them as fact.

and also, it wasn't omyn claiming you have pirated, it was you claiming you've never pirated and omyn asking you if that's true or not.

Hence "you mean to tell me you've never...?"

Quit feeding the troll and mash the report button. This thread has been thoroughly derailed, and if Hive Mind didn't break the don't be a dick rule, I don't know what would.

All I asked was that you provide evidence to support your claims that everyone on the internet has committed piracy. If you had simply said you cannot, there would be no need for this conversation to occur.

 

[AngryFrenchCanadian]

Justified? The whole point is to say "fuck you" to the establishment. In theory, anyways. It's like, piracy will always encourage publishers and developers to offer better distribution methods, but since it will never be perfect, there's always going to be piracy.

The whole point of the denomination "piracy" is that it's illegal. "Filesharing" on the other hand is a different matter.

It stops being piracy if it starts being legal.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Everybody with an internet connection has done at least one of them on accident.

Do you have any proof, or? It's fine if you want to make claims with zero evidence, just don't claim them as fact.

and also, it wasn't omyn claiming you have pirated, it was you claiming you've never pirated and omyn asking you if that's true or not.

Hence "you mean to tell me you've never...?"

Quit feeding the troll and mash the report button. This thread has been thoroughly derailed, and if Hive Mind didn't break the don't be a dick rule, I don't know what would.

All I asked was that you provide evidence to support your claims that everyone on the internet has committed piracy. If you had simply said you cannot, there would be no need for this conversation to occur.

Common knowledge + Logic = your answer. And I'm sorry to tell you this, but with an attitude like you've shown me this morning, I'm not expecting you to last long on these forums. At this point, I've reported you because you need a warning from someone with some authority. Did you read the rules or lurk at all before joining?