Pirating media/software

[Uzumaki]

Who's getting hysterical? Just calling a spade a spade.

You're calling a spade a club.

 

[Holdek]

You're calling a spade a club.

Nah. If someone wants to sell you something that they own, and you take it for free without permission instead, that's more or less theft.

 

[Uzumaki]

Nah. If someone wants to sell you something that they own, and you take it for free without permission instead, that's more or less theft.

There's a difference between taking something and copying something and you know there is. It's just easier to make your argument if you can say it's theft so you're being deliberately disingenuous.

 

[Holdek]

There's a difference between taking something and copying something

But the important similarity is that you don't pay for it.

 

[Uzumaki]

But the important similarity is that you don't pay for it.

Is trespassing theft too then? There's a reason we have different words for different situations. Words mean things.

 

[exball]

Is trespassing theft too then? There's a reason we have different words for different situations. Words mean things.

How does trespassing have anything to do with not paying for something you're supposed to buy?

 

[Uzumaki]

How does trespassing have anything to do with not paying for something you're supposed to buy?

It's "theft" of enjoyment of property you don't own.

Edit: If I camp at a camp site by sneaking in and not paying I'm trespassing. I'm not stealing camping. I'm also not stealing the land because I'm not depriving the owner of it. Stealing the land would mean something else so we have a different word. Trying to take all the nuance out of language because the grey areas help your ideological opponents is dumb bullshit.

 

[Holdek]

Words mean things.

Then so was Blackbeard not a "thief," just a "pirate?" Words just mean what we use them for. Many are euphemistic or otherwise culturally influenced for a variety of purposes.

Edit: If I camp at a camp site by sneaking in and not paying I'm trespassing. I'm not stealing camping.

That situation would be essentially theft, yes. Not sure what's so hard to grasp about it.

It's like if someone "copies" your identification and uses it without your permission. You could call it "identity piracy" if you wanted, but it's also identity theft.

Stealing is stealing.

 

[Uzumaki]

Then so was Blackbeard not a "thief," just a "pirate?" Words just mean what we use them for. Many are euphemistic or otherwise culturally influenced for a variety of purposes.

Words mean what we use them for. We, as in the entire English speaking populace, not one lone wolf who has decided to change the meaning of a word to suit his ideological goals when there already exists a word with that meaning.

Whatever though, this is a stupid circular argument that I'm finished having.

 

[Holdek]

Words mean what we use them for. We, as in the entire English speaking populace, not one lone wolf who has decided to change the meaning of a word to suit his ideological goals when there already exists a word with that meaning.

Whatever though, this is a stupid circular argument that I'm finished having.

Okay, but I think most of the English-speaking populace would consider piracy stealing.

 

[Marvin]

Piracy is stealing in the same way that opening up a competing business across the street from another business is stealing their business idea.

 

[Holdek]

Piracy is stealing in the same way that opening up a competing business across the street from another business is stealing their business idea.

Ideas aren't copyrighted though.

 

[Marvin]

Ideas aren't copyrighted though.

I'm saying that violating a copyright is stealing in the same way that "stealing" an idea is stealing. It's rhetorical.

 

[Holdek]

I'm saying that violating a copyright is stealing in the same way that "stealing" an idea is stealing. It's rhetorical.

I actually think it's the exact opposite, that violating copyright is rhetorically not stealing, but is de facto stealing.

Do you believe that "intellectual property" is a legitimate concept?

 

[Marvin]

Do you believe that "intellectual property" is a legitimate concept?

No. The property analogy doesn't work on intangible things.

 

[Ification]

Online media piracy is more like if you walked into a grocery store, took an apple, cloned it into two apples, and then left with one of the cloned apples. The company technically doesn't lose the product, but they still lost the potential money they could have gotten if you paid for the apple normally. Of course, piracy is a bit more complicated than that, what with the people who eventually buy the game after pirating it, and the people who never would have gotten the game if they didn't pirate it. As such, I personally think of media piracy is a unique form of theft, one that can't be compared to shoplifting, plagiarism, and other forms of stealing.

 

[Van Darkholme]

I used to pirate a lot more back in the day when I didn't have money. Nowadays its mostly stuff you can't get that easily like certain doujin music or VN's. If there's actually an album I like (which is rare) I try to get it on vinyl. Very rarely I watch movies via some streaming site as I prefer watching them on blu ray instead. Also porn.

I try to avoid buying anything from EA or Ubishit, most of their games suck anyway.