Current Events > Piracy advocates have the most absurd justifications for stealing.

(+) Yeah! (+)

So for the people that think the law determines ethics how does that apply to people who live in countries with different copyright laws? Does it become moral to watch something on YouTube when you are in another country if it is blocked by copyright in your own country?

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Public domain being based solely on age is kinda dumb in the first place. It was based on individual creators rather than corporate entities that can make proper use of their properties for longer. Usability should take precedence. If an entity can still make proper use of its property in a way that benefits people culturally, then it should basically just be an indefinite extension. Though there should be a regulatory body to weed out scams looking to put in minimal effort to capitalize on a property unfairly like rights-holders to movie rights do when they pump out a low effort schlock to keep them from expiring. On the flipside, if a company dies and nobody makes use of the purchased rights to a property, then it should go into the public domain more quickly.

Giant_Aspirin posted...

the folks who produce / own content have a right to dictate the terms of access to that content, and piracy is a violation of that agreement.

if you use adblock you are stealing gamefaqs ad revenue

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Y'all fall for this shit every time.

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ssjevot posted...

So for the people that think the law determines ethics how does that apply to people who live in countries with different copyright laws? Does it become moral to watch something on YouTube when you are in another country if it is blocked by copyright in your own country?

my basic issue is when people have a way to purchase access to something and intentionally bypass that because they don't want to pay for it. people will make excuses and claim that's not why, but we all know why the vast majority of pirates are hitting the torrents instead of forking over $60 for that game.

i think for me it really comes down to intent. pirating because its literally not available in your region? cool. pirating because it's not available to download anymore and physical copies are only available on ebay for $200? fine. pirating because you just don't wanna fork over the cash? buzz off with your entitlement. and only the person pirating really knows why they're doing it.

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Giant_Aspirin posted...

by gaining access to things you haven't paid for you're incurring a cost to the entities that own those things. while it's not a direct cost by consuming their resources directly, you're preventing them from benefiting off something they created. instead of paying them for their work, you are taking it for free and that indirectly incurs a cost to them.

using that rationale, people who create digital content would never ever be compensated for their work. do you really think it's cool for dozens or even hundreds of people to spend part of their lives working on a product only to not receive compensation for said work? if everyone followed your belief, nobody would pay for digital games and those content creators would not get paid.

Giant_Aspirin posted...

by gaining access to things you haven't paid for you're incurring a cost to the entities that own those things. while it's not a direct cost by consuming their resources directly, you're preventing them from benefiting off something they created. instead of paying them for their work, you are taking it for free and that indirectly incurs a cost to them.

using that rationale, people who create digital content would never ever be compensated for their work. do you really think it's cool for dozens or even hundreds of people to spend part of their lives working on a product only to not receive compensation for said work? if everyone followed your belief, nobody would pay for digital games and those content creators would not get paid.

Fuck you, got mine.

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Gobstoppers12 posted...

You have. By obtaining it without the purchase of a legitimate license, you've obtained it in a way contrary to their rights.

Someone downloading Pokemon Fire Red does not stop Nintendo from selling Pokemon Fire Red

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Questionmarktarius posted...

Here's all the "justification" you ever need:
1. Realize that it's not really legal, nor particularly moral
2. Don't care.

Hell, I'd say skip the first one and just go with "don't care". No point wasting time trying to justify it to anyone. Those who believe it's wrong can keep believing that. Whether or not they change their minds has no impact on pirates.

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KeeperOfShadows posted...

Hell, I'd say skip the first one and just go with "don't care".

fair.

Buy the game (new) if you can.

Do what you must if you cannot.

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Piracy isn't stealing.

Now it's fine to consider it wrong. It is copyright infringement and illegal. You could get arrested or sued.

But it's objectively not stealing. You're not removing anything from anyone's possession. Stealing is far more severe because of the direct loss it inflicts on the victim.
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You are taking a thing you aren't actually entitled to have. The fact that it has a marginal cost of zero is irrelevant.

There is no justification. Just an opportunity to give no fucks.

Hoodroar posted...

But it's objectively not stealing. You're not removing anything from anyone's possession.

stealing is, by definition "take (another person's property) without permission or legal right and without intending to return it." it has nothing to do with "possessions", but "property".

the idea is that movies, games, music, etc. are the "intellectual property" of the owners, and taking that without permission of the owner is, by definition, stealing. so unless your point is that there is no "intellectual property" surrounding those things, i don't think there's much argument there.

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Questionmarktarius posted...

You are taking a thing you aren't actually entitled to have. The fact that it has a marginal cost of zero is irrelevant.

There is no justification. Just an opportunity to give no fucks.

No it's entirely relevant. Crimes are judged in part based on their level of victimization. Attempted murder is charged less severely than actual murderer, even though the level of moral failing involved in both is exactly the same. One still caused less harm than the other and that's always a factor.

ModLogic posted...

if you use adblock you are stealing gamefaqs ad revenue

Yeah using adblock is actually worse than piracy since one is burning up site bandwith without compensating the site in the only real way they earn money (ad revenue). There's an actual burden inflicted upon the creator there.

I realize it's wrong. I realize if everyone did it the site would shut down. If government suits knew how the internet works it'd probably be illegal. I just don't care lol.
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Hoodroar posted...

Yeah using adblock is actually worse than piracy

Nobody denies this. It's just that negative fucks are given.

Hoodroar posted...

Piracy isn't stealing.

Now it's fine to consider it wrong. It is copyright infringement and illegal. You could get arrested or sued.

But it's objectively not stealing. You're not removing anything from anyone's possession. Stealing is far more severe because of the direct loss it inflicts on the victim.

I consider taking something you have to otherwise pay for to be stealing, personally.

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Oh no billion dollar companies will earn less money, unthinkable!

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AngelicRadiance posted...

Oh no billion dollar companies will earn less money, unthinkable!

This is always another absurd justification to the piracy advocate's argument. Stealing is stealing whether it's from the richest organization or from the homeless guy down the street. You're entitled to steal because... the entity you're stealing from has money?

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Billyionaire posted...

This is always another absurd justification to the piracy advocate's argument. Stealing is stealing whether it's from the richest organization or from the homeless guy down the street. You're entitled to steal because... the entity you're stealing from has money?

Never said I was entitled I just don't give a shit. You wanna fund the unequal pay that game company execs get be my guest

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AngelicRadiance posted...

Never said I was entitled I just don't give a shit. You wanna fund the unequal pay that game company execs get be my guest

Protip: skip the "justice" parts, and go directly to "don't give a shit".

Lmao at this thread
prime trolling by tc

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Billyionaire posted...

This is always another absurd justification to the piracy advocate's argument. Stealing is stealing whether it's from the richest organization or from the homeless guy down the street. You're entitled to steal because... the entity you're stealing from has money?

are you using adblock right now to browse gamefaqs?

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ModLogic posted...

are you using adblock right now to browse gamefaqs?

see #166

Billyionaire posted...

This is always another absurd justification to the piracy advocate's argument. Stealing is stealing whether it's from the richest organization or from the homeless guy down the street. You're entitled to steal because... the entity you're stealing from has money?

Yes. Stealing from the rich is morally justified.

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TsunamiFox posted...

Someone downloading Pokemon Fire Red does not stop Nintendo from selling Pokemon Fire Red

But in downloading it, you are circumventing their right to distribute. They never chose to make it available in that way, so you are defying their right to control it.

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Gobstoppers12 posted...

right to distribute.

Not a thing.

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Gobstoppers12 posted...

circumventing

kind of like you using ad block on gamefaqs

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ModLogic posted...

kind of like you using ad block on gamefaqs

You think I use adblock on GameFAQs?

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Questionmarktarius posted...

The real lesson here is that smart people don't even attempt any justification beyond "fuck 'em".

You're still falling for it. The people who make that shit are not smart, and they can't and don't speak for people who are. They're clinging to the (imagined) rationale of smart people in order to obfuscate their own position on the totem pole, as if idiots and geniuses are one and the same and/or on the same "team". Pro tip: they aren't

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Tyranthraxus posted...

harley2280 posted...

It's not theft, or stealing. Figuratively or literally.

It's actually way closer to driving a car (which you wouldn't download) without a license.

The definition of stealing is literally taking something that doesn't belong to you without permission. It is literally stealing.

Stealing isn't always immoral but stealing is always stealing.

Which isn't what happens when you pirate. You didn't take anything. You used it without a license.
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Billyionaire posted...

I consider taking something you have to otherwise pay for to be stealing, personally.

Nothing is "taken". It's illegally copied. Copying is not taking.
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Gobstoppers12 posted...

But in downloading it, you are circumventing their right to distribute. They never chose to make it available in that way, so you are defying their right to control it.

They still have every right to control it. If that is a thing that exists.

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Giblet_Enjoyer posted...

You're still falling for it. The people who make that shit are not smart, and they can't and don't speak for people who are. They're clinging to the (imagined) rationale of smart people in order to obfuscate their own position on the totem pole, as if idiots and geniuses are one and the same and/or on the same "team". Pro tip: they aren't

Been awhile since I've seen someone this wound up over a meme

People who admit they dgaf and just do it because no one can stop them are definitely on the high end of the IQ distribution curve and they're also based as shit

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harley2280 posted...

Which isn't what happens when you pirate. You didn't take anything. You used it without a license.

You took a copy without permission. The license is the permission. When you download a copy you purchased you're taking a copy with permission. The copy doesn't and never belongs to you, you just either have permission to take it or not.

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Y'all really don't want to just admit that it's wrong to steal things, huh?

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Gobstoppers12 posted...

Y'all really don't want to just admit that it's wrong to steal things, huh?

Let's say people admit that it's wrong, but everyone keeps doing it anyway

What, effectively, has changed if that were the case

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Gwynevere posted...

Let's say people admit that it's wrong, but everyone keeps doing it anyway

What, effectively, has changed if that were the case

At least they'd be owning their bad behavior rather than trying to play it off as morally correct. It's a small change, but it's a start.

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Gobstoppers12 posted...

At least they'd be owning their bad behavior rather than trying to play it off as morally correct. It's a small change, but it's a start.

So it's just a moral superiority thing? Because even if people admit it's not morally permissible to pirate things, but they keep doing it anyway because they dgaf, there's no tangible change taking place

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What would be worse:
Someone stealing a videogame from your backpack
Or

You pirating a videogame

Also what do you guys think about pirating textbooks?

Gwynevere posted...

So it's just a moral superiority thing? Because even if people admit it's not morally permissible to pirate things, but they keep doing it anyway because they dgaf, there's no tangible change taking place

They know they're bad people!

lol idfgi either

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Gwynevere posted...

Because even if people admit it's not morally permissible to pirate things, but they keep doing it anyway because they dgaf, there's no tangible change taking place

Attaching a negative connotation to it is what might discourage others from doing it. When it's cool and harmless to steal, people steal more often. Peer pressure is a very real concept.

If people start to realize that stealing is wrong, and begin to talk about it as if it's wrong while looking down on people who do it, there's less enticement to steal. Or, at the very least, less overt encouragement to convince others to steal.

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Matthew 15:32-39

Sometimes, GameFAQs is based.

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Gobstoppers12 posted...

Y'all really don't want to just admit that it's wrong to steal things, huh?

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I love that people are like "but the marketplace man, these creators won't continue working cuz piracy"

And then when you actually try to follow the marketplace argument through, people just jump to a different argument.

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Y'all really don't want to just admit that it's wrong to steal things, huh?

1. It's piracy, not stealing. It has a different name for a reason.
2. It's cute that you think I care that it's wrong.

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Billyionaire posted...

"The company isn't selling this game anymore and I can't afford it on the second hand market, hence it is not morally wrong for me to steal it".

Cry more