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Ethics of Online Pirating

OTGee

OTGee

Bluelighter
Joined
Oct 27, 2011
Messages
493
What are peoples views on people pirating information most commonly, music, films and video games.
I am not asking for pirate sourcing or anything so I dont think this breaks the rules.
I myself do not agree with it but, do it anyway. I mean films and music are so expensive since people started pirating shit that theres just no point anymore. Ive always thought dvds were way too expensive anyway as you only normally watch them once or twice. Its just so much easier to download books, textbooks and anything I want via the internet from the comfort of my bed/chair instead of going somewere to buy it or rent it. Also its free and as its so widespread, its not a huge risk.

It really will get to a point though were no one wants to make information as it will just be worthless and free as so many people will pirate it.
By pirating I mean using a bit torrent client or other P2P services that offer copywritted information.
Whats your views then people? Just bored and thought I would start a topic :)
 
Honestly, it's been said before, the real solution is to revolutionize the nature of the business. Vinyl became a niche market and that's exactly what CDs/DVDs are on the road to becoming a part of. Most people have broadband connections these days and it's easier just to buy media online. While media and information in general has become less valuable than it was years ago, if a trend goes viral these days it can generate more income in a week than it would have in a decade before the internet existed. I don't even bother pirating when I know I can get higher quality versions of music delivered from high speed servers for a DOLLAR a tune. Services like Beatport and Juno and Netflix and whatever else there is understand what the new model is about it and the rest of the industry will get caught up after it loses enough money.
 
I've downloaded maybe 5000 films. But I've bought 1000 dvds... And I don't know why, but I refuse to pirate my video games. I pay the full price for them, and I have more than 250 games, all consoles together.
 
I've been thinking about this lately. In ethical theory it should probably be considered stealing unless the product was released for free. However, in practice online pirating is the new reality and calls for as Thujone put it, a revolution within the business. Businesses like Netflix are a good start, the content is paid for and the price to the consumer is pretty cheap.

I've always supported smaller scale music and film, but I still download torrents for free. Personally, I don't care if Universal Studios or EMI loses my $15 from doing so.
 
^indeed
musicians make their money touring, which is in turn promoted by the free spread of their sounds. as thujone noted, people have an option to pay a little for higher quality recordings, and that's fine. fuck the parasite record labels.

movie producers seldom make money, those who do are virtually unaffected by piracy. those who do not get normally released get an audience they would have otherwise not had.

video games and software is a bit more tricky a question. despite it being generally more expensive than the above two, it is the only source of revenue for those producers. it isn't hard to find legitimate discount stores. i dunno, maybe they can do what everyone else does and fill games with ads. :(
 
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I usually only pirate games to try them out or if I know I will only play through the story quickly. £40+ for like 12 hours of entertainment is too steep for me, something with a big interesting story I would buy or multiplayer games. My xbox got stolen though so recently I have been pirating everything, no point buying really expensive pc games when I cant stand using mouse + keyboard.
 
Movies are such shit these days I refuse to pay to watch most of them. Musicians make most of their money from tours. And if its a game I plan to play online Ill buy it.

Make quality stuff, people will buy it.
 
I'm not going to call major media distributors big babies, because the truth is that I would be pissed too if someone was depleting revenue. I'd do everything they're doing - using the government to make examples out of kids, lobbying, threatening, suing.

But the fact is that their power doesn't just come from revenue. their power comes from the fact hat they are close to the source of the thing that everyone wants. That's the only commodity they have left, but it's nothing to scoff at. If they can't figure out how to make money off of something that millions of people are willing to violate federal law to get their hands on, then I really don't have any advice for them.
 
^but that's dumb. they are probably spending more on the campaign than it actually purports to save at the end of the day, especially if they are successful.
 
It's easy to judge from an outside perspective. Stop fighting dirty - just innovate!

But the campaign is not about saving money - it is just a strategy to slow down the progress of the industry as a whole so that these companies can catch up and retain their positions. This is worth losing money to do, because the companies who frustrate the economy effectively enough to retain bargaining power will be around for 100 years.
 
I've always been more of a fan of "underground" music better. Not by some hipsterish attitude, but simply because the music of people who do not work for these big corps usually contains more emotion. It's more raw I guess.

I don't pay for the music of deceased people.

I don't buy new games.

Hell. If I could I'd buy used food.

The most recently released movie I've bought was released in 2008(used)

I'm outside the Industry anyways. So my Pirating is just about as relevant as anything else I do. I don't fund these big corps anyways.
 
shimazu said:
Movies are such shit these days I refuse to pay to watch most of them.
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if they're so shit, why are you watching them? the fact that you spend time watching them means you explicitly place some value on them.

art is subjective and there are no guarantees. you're (plural) paying to see the movie - not to see it and enjoy it (although, obviously, it's great if you do).

alasdair
 
Here are the real questions: do you really need the music / movie? What's your real motivation for finding it for free?
 
If it's the current way of things then you're culturally bankrupt if you don't find a way to get what you want. I don't feel entitled to it so much as I acknowledge that I'm stealing and don't care that no one can stop me other than the odd virus you sometimes might get. As a person with a huge appetite for music and very little income outside of the basic living thing I see no reason not to do it. If morals make me less educated then what good are the morals? Downloading is one thing, but it's also just as easy to go to the library and check out as many CDs as they'll allow and then burn them all onto my hardrive. I will never use Itunes or anything like that because the files on CDs are better quality, and I'm not aware of any place that sells FLACs outside of artists' personal websites who are wise enough to provide the highest quality recordings from their shows, so downloading illegally is natural as surfing the web.

Encyclopedias are now obsolete thanks to the internet, but no one really cares about all the jobs Wikipedia effected. The Britannica people didn't lobby as hard as the RIAA did, so they went under. This is just the times we're in. I respect people who really do believe one thing, and follow up and stick with their beliefs about what's right and wrong, but I haven't been personally moved to break the habit myself. Yeah, I'm a thief. What of it?
 
umm movies are shit these days its all just the same predictable plotlines with the same cliches and the same no-talent actors.

you dont need to look at it as art just look at it objectively. If I only laugh 3 times at a movie, is it really worth paying $20 to see? 20 dollars for 3 laughs? shit I could just go on craiglist dating ads and get that for free
 
I think you're missing alasdairm's point. If it's only worth 3 laughs why are you watching it anyway?
 
^ precisely.
shimazu said:
umm movies are shit these days its all just the same predictable plotlines with the same cliches and the same no-talent actors.
Click to expand...
then why on earth are you watching them? you say they have no value but your actions say they have value. they can't both be right so your words or your actions are a lie. which is it?
shimazu said:
If I only laugh 3 times at a movie, is it really worth paying $20 to see? 20 dollars for 3 laughs?
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you're not paying $20 for 3 laughs. you're paying to see the movie, in its entirety, whether you enjoy it or not. they keep up their end of the bargain but you shirk yours. why? why should you get something for nothing?
shimazu said:
shit I could just go on craiglist dating ads and get that for free
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so do so.

i'd have more respect for somebody who said "i know it cost a lot of money to make this but i have a sense of entitlement and i think i deserve to see it for nothing"...

:\

alasdair
 
shimazu said:
umm movies are shit these days its all just the same predictable plotlines with the same cliches and the same no-talent actors.

you dont need to look at it as art just look at it objectively. If I only laugh 3 times at a movie, is it really worth paying $20 to see? 20 dollars for 3 laughs? shit I could just go on craiglist dating ads and get that for free
Click to expand...

Or you can make your own laughs. Those are the best kinds, I've heard...

Moreover, being in the "now" only takes a few seconds of your friends telling you what's up. In my very humble experience, you can catch up on the last six months of popular news and music in about ten minutes of talking to your friends.

Here is my take on music: it's free on Youtube to view. Why waste your time and effort downloading something so you can listen to 90% of the music one time?

Do not tell me I don't know what you're going through. I have 10,000 songs on my external hard drive from downloading songs from Limewire three to four years ago. I've only listened to half of them. Half! The other half are sitting there, on the external. My life is no smaller now than when I was downloading all of that music.

I have two-three bands that I am most DEFINITELY willing to pay for. When they make new albums, I pay for them. Everything else is pushed by the wayside until I talk with my friends and have a chance to catch up on the times. I let them do the work for me because they're willing.

It seems you're willing, also. Do you want that movie, or do you REALLY want that music? Finding something worth paying for is key in your life. Most people spend their money on stupid things and complain when they don't have money for something they really want (like your favorite band's newest album).

Being basically broke has taught me a lot in the past year. I'm rambling now, though. hahaha.
 
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