Ahh Piracy. never get sick of this one
Straight off the bat, I have downloaded songs, hunted for abandonware and games that are no longer produced, and aquired them in ways contrary to the licence. This makes what I'm about to say sound really hypocritical, but you know what? I don't care
Software licences, more often than not, specifically state that you are allowed to install ONE copy, and make ONE copy for backup, making three copies total. So you are within your rights to create/use a backup. Most other things are outside of the licence restrictions
But Jim, What If I sell my copy?
When you sell your copy you sell your licence as well. As long as you uninstall your copy and get rid of your backup, legally fine
What about music/movies Jim? Can I copy those?
Tricky. Music has been the dark horse for a while in this argument. A lot of people think that music should be free and that artists should be happy people are listening to them at all. This is, of course, total bollocks. People should be paid for the music they make. iTunes is a good system to start with, and a lot of artists give stuff away for free anyway. Backups of music are, well, kind of inevitable. mp3's are much easier to deal with in almost every situation where we used to use records/tapes/cds. So even if I didn't like it (and I don't) there's nothing I can do with that. We have to rely on people's good faith when it comes to actually paying for what they use. Which is essentially the worst business model in the world.
As for movies, people have been doing illegal things with them for years. Have you ever seen a movie at a friend's place? Criminal. Ever taped a movie off TV? Very VERY illegal. DVD copying was just as convenient.
If I own a piece of software/cd/music, why shouldn't I be allowed to do what I want with it? I mean it's mine right?
Well, not quite. I mean, sure you hold the physical copy and you can use that as many times as you like, but it's not really "yours". There are specific terms/conditions associated with whatever media you buy, that allow you to use them in a certain way. Quite simply once you buy it, unless you follow this licence, you are breaking the law
Isn't this a little much?
Yes. It's a lot of stuff to put up with without any real justification other than "Because we want to earn money". Unfortunately we don't have a system in place that is fair that everyone agrees on. The people putting out the media feel they deserve some pittance for their hard work, whereas the consumer has been burned too many times. Somewhere there's a fair solution where we all get what we want at a fair price
