Poll: Would You Pirate Media You Already Own

[mcgroobber]

if you have already bought something, you own it right

or i guess not according to the media companies, whatever there close to being obsolete they should adopt a Brazilian system, that is use the pirating of music to create hype for a band so that when the tour come around (or as it were rave parties in brazil) that the people would decide if they wanted to go to the concert or not, thus the bands would make money this way. and instead of working against technology and its own fans to make money it would be working with them

of course this wouldn't work with game developers because they have no concerts, what you buy is what they make money off of

 

[SimuLord]

I buy things legally then crack them to remove the DRM. I don't see anything wrong with this. If some game publisher forced the issue I might have to think about not going to the trouble of actually, y'know, SUPPORTING THEIR EFFORTS FIRST.

 

[TheLoneSeeker]

iTunes made me think about this recently. I bought an album off the iTunes store a while back. It was an iTunes-only release not available in stores. Then some time after I bought it, the album was obviously taken off the store. Recently my hard drive shat itself, and I didn't have the album on my iPod at the time. Now, to my great joy, I find I can't download the content I paid for because it's been pulled. I'd happily pirate a copy of the album (if I could find it, which I can't).

 

[NezumiiroKitsune]

Paid £40 for Oblivion on PS3. Paid £15 again for the GOTY. Then I decided I wanted it for PC. Lets just say that copy was a gift from some joint friends I met on the coast, the bay if you will. Good friends.

(Exactly the same story with Fallout 3)

 

[tzimize]

You ask if it would be unethical which is impossible to answer as ethics is not a constant.
To me it would not be unethical, to others it might.

 

[erbkaiser]

How is it piracy if I already own it?
It may not be legal, but it is ethically justified.

I lost a lot of music in a harddrive crash a while back, but since I bought it in the first place I am fully within my rights to reacquire it from whatever source I can.
Likewise I can't play some of my DVDs on my PS3 since it is region locked, so I just use rips of them and stream them over the network from my PC to my PS3. Since I own the movie/series on disk this is not piracy by any definition except perhaps the flawed legal one -- and that not even in the Netherlands, where downloading anything is legal in the first place.

 

[Xan Krieger]

If I have a game and the disc stops working (for example scratched to hell over the course of a few years) then I believe I have the right to download another copy as what's the problem if the game that I paid for comes from a disc or the internet? Either way I bought a copy and I am entitled to use it. Just because the disc fails does not mean I can't have a way of using what was on it.

 

[Spinozaad]

Yes. Because I'm too lazy to rip the music from the CD's I have. With my internet connection, it's a better deal to just download the albums.

And as long as I don't seed, I'm not doing anything illegal according to Dutch law. Woop woop woop!

 

[NeutralDrow]

I have downloaded copies of games that I've lost the CDs to, and I don't feel guilty for it. Other than that, I keep my downloads to stuff I have no legal way of acquiring.

 

[acosn]

Unless DRM locked me out, or it just wasn't in the format I wanted I wouldn't typically pirate something.


Well, unless there's literally no impact on the market. I don't think there's room to be butt hurt about me watching fan subs of animes and mangas that are fundamentally unavailable where I live.

 

[chstens]

I once bought Kotor2, I lost the disc, I pirated it. Hell, I already own the game.

 

[Trotgar]

I lost CD 3 of my copy of Baldur's Gate, I can't finish it now.

I don't see anything wrong with pirating it.

 

[Gigano]

I see nothing wrong in pirating a game/media thing which you already own. While it may violate the wording of the law in many juristrictions, it does not violate the spirit of it: That the creators/licensers should receive payment from the person using their media.

The way I see it, on ethical concerns, once one has paid up for a copy of the media, how much use one gets out of it should be no concern of the publisher. If I take a digital copy of a disk (or download its content because it's easier), it doesn't hurt their sales in any way.

Same thing for pirating a thing if its not possible to pay for useable copy: Provided that one instantly buys it if it ever becomes available by reasonable means and in useable form to you.

The law often says otherwise, but I'd hold it more important to adhere to the purpose the law is trying to achieve (to give due payment when there's a market and use for the copyrighted thing) than fanaticly obeying its every syllable. And I hardly think publishers are going to pursue you if you keep to pirating things you've bought or which are not available for purchase by reasonable means where you live, and which they thus never expected to receive any payment in that area for.

 

[Agayek]

I would pirate a copy of something I already own for one of three reasons:

1) There's nothing legally available which is available in the format I require (ie, during the VHS -> DVD transition period, I pirated some movies which I had already bought that hadn't been released on DVD yet)

2) The pirated version is significantly more convenient (ie - Assassin's Creed 2, though since I bought the game for PS3, I have no real reason to pirate it).

3) I've already bought it multiple times (ie - Baldur's Gate 2). I've lost like 4 sets of discs for that game, and after the last time I just gave up on it and downloaded some images of the CDs so that I'd never lose them again.

 

[Chrissyluky]

Yes and I still believe it is not technically illegal in my state(of washington). From what I have seen the most they can do is prosecute you and give you a fine. They are not allowed to imprison you for it(yet). If anything the big threat here is the company you "stole" from. There have been several cases where big companies have sued specific "pirates" over this. As far as the technicality comes, when pirating a game/movie/music/whatever. You are not stealing technically. When you download a copy does not physically disappear off the shelves.

 

[GundamSentinel]

If I own a movie or a game, I download the soundtrack. I already paid for the music rights once, not going to do it again. Also, there is still no such thing as illegal downloading where I live.

 

[Mordwyl]

Yes. How would it really affect them if I already bought the game?

 

[Kajt]

Yes. Oh, yes I would. Especially if it's an old game that's not sold any more.

 

[Brad Shepard]

I hate pirates and all that they do, but if i payed for it (Like the laser burnt copy of COD 4 i had) then ill copy a working copy onto my harddrive or somthing.