The ability to change features, prices, and availability of things you’ve already paid for is a powerful temptation to corporations.

  • @iamtherealwalrus@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    01 year ago

    I’ve seen this quote repeated over and over these past few weeks, while noone brothers to actually explain what it means and why. This article is no different unfortunately.

    • @kurwa@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      -11 year ago

      When you spend money on something, let’s say one of those movies from PlayStation, you don’t actually own that movie, there is no file given to you that is yours. You are just given access to it. And then, out of no where, they can take that away from you.

      When you pirate something, you are just creating a copy of the file, you aren’t taking away the original file.

      So, the argument here is that morally pirating is okay because no one is losing anything, aside from potential sales for the company I guess. But on the flip side, the company is essentially stealing from you because they took your money, and you aren’t allowed access to what you bought.

      The most morally just position in this case would be that if you were one of those customers who paid for and then lost access to said movies, and then you pirated them back, you could say that the company had already made their money on you, and you’re owed those movies.

      In my opinion, I don’t think pirating from any million / billion dollar company is bad even if you didn’t “own” it originally.

    • @ParsnipWitch@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      0
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      People want at the same time that wages are higher but they also do not want to pay, for example, software developers appropriately.

      No one wants to be part of the problem, though. So some people justify their copyright infringing by claiming it’s some sort of movement for justice and rebellion against corporations.

      • calm.like.a.bomb
        link
        fedilink
        English
        -11 year ago

        Have you ever bought something online (movies, games) that you can’t save/download and then the company you have the money to removed that? That is stealing from you. Simple.

  • @theherk@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    01 year ago

    Heads up! Plex media server with the Plex clients on all your devices is such a smooth experience. Highly recommended. And their “Watch together” feature is so nice for people that prefer to stay in bed and spend the winter binge watching next to a warm body.

  • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】
    link
    fedilink
    English
    01 year ago

    What does that even mean?

    Ownership is compromised a bundle of rights. If it’s your bundle, you can split them up however you want, sell whatever kind of limited or unlimited licenses that can come up with, and this applies to real, personal, and intellectual property.

    If it’s not theft, why does the greed and unfair practices of the industry matter? Why does there need to be any justification or excuse?

    Should definitely have a right to repai; with any other property right you generally have a duty to maintain the access to your interest. I recently unlocked a bunch of premium features in my car. HD radio, comfort window roll down (rolls down 2" with a tap") auto tailgate close (had auto open, but not close, had to hit a button on the lid to close), auto side mirror tilt down in reverse, roll down windows from keyless entry, close tailgate from keyless entry.

    If I understand the interface at all, it’s pretty openly accessible (if you have the right OBDii port adapter and software, which ironically you need to buy a license for). Code looked fairly straightforward, and by that I mean it looked like other computer code I’ve seen. Wonder what the original price was for those extras were from the dealership, probably over 10k.

    • Cosmic Cleric
      link
      fedilink
      English
      -1
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      If it’s not theft, why does the greed and unfair practices of the industry matter?

      Because it tears at the fabric of Humanity. It’s a ‘death by a thousand cuts’.

      Humanity constantly needing to be on guard and pushing back against being taken advantage of by people who want to charge them multiple times for the same thing in different ways, especially the ones that used to be free, over and over again.

      Fighting that is pushing back against unfairness, which is one of the root beliefs of Humanity.

  • @Rough_N_Ready@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    41 year ago

    Piracy was never stealing. It’s copyright infringement, but that’s not the same as stealing at all. People saying it’s stealing have always been wrong.

  • that guy
    link
    fedilink
    English
    11 year ago

    I look forward to this gem being repeated along with “enshittification” by the dunning krugers at large

    • @EatATaco@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      01 year ago

      You want something, but you don’t want to pay the cost (either monetarily or because they have made it too hard) and so you take take it. Fuck these assholes companies who try to milk people for every last penny, so I have no moral qualms with piracy, I do it myself.

      But, fuck, can we stop trying to paint it as some noble thing? Effectively zero pirates are doing it to perseve culture, instead it’s fulfilling personal desire.

      This is chaotic neutral at best, not neutral good.

      • @Emma_Gold_Man@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        01 year ago

        I think there’s an exception to be made in your argument for abandonware. There are classic arcade games that wouldn,'t exist any more but are widely available due to MAME support.

  • Blue
    link
    fedilink
    English
    01 year ago

    Pirated valheim, played 20 hours, bought the game.

    Pirated baldurs gate 3 on early access, bought the game with only act 1, that’s how good it is.

    Pirated Valhalla, played 5 hours, uninstalled that trash forever.

    Started pirating streaming services when they told me that I can’t watch shit anymore because streaming service b and c took the shows, and now I have to pay two different streaming services if I want to keep watching.

    • gila
      link
      fedilink
      English
      01 year ago

      I think a compromise on copyright could be a good middle ground in future. In the same way that I’m happy to wait for a game to go on sale before I buy and play it, I’d be happy to wait until a movie or series enters the public domain so I can consume it without paying. Obviously not for hundreds of years, or 56 years. But if Netflix/HBO etc shows and movies became free to watch after 6-7 years, most piracy traffic could be easily captured by legal platforms that are more convenient and accessible to more viewers. I struggle to see how it would not further relegate piracy to a niche activity done by very few, or be bad for the content producers in any significant way

  • @Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    English
    0
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Normally people pay to see the circus, but you could just sneak in though. It’s not exactly stalling, so what do you call that? The circus is still there, but you didn’t pay for it.

    If lots of people start doing that, the circus probably won’t have enough money to keep on performing. Maybe they’ll get rid of the more expensive bits and just keep the cheaper ones in the future.

    • @CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      21 year ago

      What would you call it if you buy a piece of art and hang it on your wall, then a couple months later the company that sold you the art comes into your home, takes the art away, and says you don’t own it anymore?

      If enough companies do that people are going to stop paying for art.

      • @Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        English
        -11 year ago

        If that was a normal purchase, then that’s clearly theft.

        If it was art leasing, there’s probably a long contract with details about a situation like this. No matter what the contract says, the local law might still disagree with that, so it can get complicated. The art company might be violating their own contract, although it is unlikely. The company might be within the rights outlined in the contract, but they might still be breaking the law. You need a lawyer to figure it out.

        • @CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          41 year ago

          Well it was sure we fuck presented as a normal purchase. Adding legal text to where you sign the cheque saying “you may come to my house and take this away at any time” doesn’t make it less bullshit.

          • @Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
            link
            fedilink
            English
            11 year ago

            The world is full of bad contracts. It’s truly sad that we decided to accept them without making numerous alterations here and there.

            • @CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
              link
              fedilink
              English
              21 year ago

              It’s not possible to make changes to a digital contract. The only option is to not make the “purchase” and acquire it elsewhere.

              • @Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
                link
                fedilink
                English
                11 year ago

                More people should let the service provider know that their contract sucks and that they refuse to pay for the service under the proposed conditions. Most people don’t even read the contract, so I don’t think the situation is going to improve any time soon.

        • @CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          11 year ago

          That company is also going to show you the agreement you signed that says they can do that

          Nobody said otherwise. The argument isn’t “this is illegal”, it’s “this is bullshit.”

          People are still buying them.

          And the argument being put forward is that people shouldn’t be.

    • @lolcatnip@reddthat.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      11 year ago

      That’s a bad analogy because there’s finite space for people to watch the circus, meaning that seating for the show they conforms to fire codes, etc. is finite.

      It’s also a bad analogy because someone who sneaks into a circus trespassing, not stealing.

      • @Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        English
        01 year ago

        I agree that the analogy isn’t perfect. As you pointed out, people sneaking in are taking space from people who would be willing pay for the service.

        If you could somehow sneak into Netflix and take some of their bandwidth or their ability to provide the service to paying customers, then the analogy would work. In reality though, people pirate Netflix shows and movies by torrenting, and that has no impact on Netflix’s bandwidth.

        The way I see it, circus and digital videos are a service. You are supposed to pay for both, but you can easily see both of them for free. Comparing these two with stealing just doesn’t work IMO.

        You could also compare it with watching a football match from the other side of the fence. Although, in reality, you wouldn’t get a very good view of the game, whereas torrenting movies gives you a great view. Interestingly, the football example doesn’t involve trespassing, but you still get to enjoy a part of the service. All analogies break at some point.

      • @EatATaco@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        0
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        It’s a thousand times better than this empty garbage. How does this have any upvotes?

        • @CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          -1
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          Because the issue at hand is more like if you bought tickets to the circus, but when you went to go see it you were told the circus isn’t there anymore and you don’t get a refund.

          That I would definately call stealing, and if I wanted to see the circus the next time it was in town I would absolutely sneak in.

            • @CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
              link
              fedilink
              English
              11 year ago

              This is where the analogy breaks down, because the circus requires people and an area to operate in. Digital movies and TV shows should just require my device to watch it on.

              To strain the metaphor further: The Circus leaving the venue isn’t leaving town, they’re just moving across the street. But your tickets are only valid for the old venue. Do you expect people to purchase new tickets or just sneak in?

              There’s also the people who purchased a lifetime membership to the circus and then were told the next day “The circus will no longer be going to that venue anymore after the end of the month.”

              The expectation is that I purchased this media and can watch it as much as I want, whenever I want, for the rest of my life. When companies say “Lol, no. Fine print” reasonable people aren’t going to shrug their shoulders and say “You got me, I guess I’ll purchase more things.” They’ll say “screw that, I can get it for free and keep it forever, what service are you providing that’s better?”

          • @ParsnipWitch@feddit.de
            link
            fedilink
            English
            11 year ago

            A more honest analogy for the situation was that there are very few incidents of circuses doing that and now people demand it’s morally justified to get free entrance to every circus, concert, fair, museum, …

  • @Conyak@lemmy.tf
    link
    fedilink
    English
    151 year ago

    People are always on here arguing about whether pirating is stealing or not. I do think it’s stealing I just can’t bring myself to give a fuck about these large corporations. They have been stealing from the people for years.

  • AlteredStateBlob
    link
    fedilink
    81 year ago

    Netflix and Amazon prime simply won’t work with VPNs active, which I use for work and privacy towards my ISP.

    I won’t compromise my security for their bad services. Living in a non US country, we are also always several years behind on content being offered.

    Yeah, nah. The paying customer always pays for the percieved sins of non customers.

    Set sail.

  • @merc@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    1091 year ago

    Piracy was never stealing, it was only copyright infringement.

    Stealing is a crime that goes back to the 10 commandments, it’s old. When you steal something you take it from someone else, depriving them of it.

    Copyright infringement is a newish crime where the government has granted a megacorporation a 120 year monopoly on the expression of an idea. If you infringe that copyright, they still have the original, and can keep selling copies of that original to everyone else, but they might miss out on the opportunity to make a sale to you. Obviously, that’s very different from stealing something.

    • @KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      271 year ago

      The irony is, you pirating today has been shown to influence you buying it later on in a sale. And there’s a good argument to be made about your word of mouth praise helping their sales.

      • @Chakravanti@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        0
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Yup. I’m about to suggest about half a dozen people to watch a movie on Netflix I pirated last night. Leave the World Behind. I highly reccomend you see this to understand my last statement here. I have “suggested” to a few dozen people to watch Hulu for Firefly.

        They don’t get my money because I don’t give a flying fuck to support the extortion of the people this tyrrany that’s been running since Crowley and even longer. Looks free but there was never an end to slavery. It just stopped giving a shit about your color. To counter, goes over everyone’s head one way or another. Doesn’t matter. All life will die on this planet in less than a decade.

          • @Chakravanti@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            01 year ago

            Sucks being uneducated, especially when folks don’t care to help because you’re a condescending dick about it. Not to mention religiously expletive.

              • @Chakravanti@sh.itjust.works
                link
                fedilink
                English
                -1
                edit-2
                1 year ago

                The counter is that the slavery of everyone doesn’t mean they’re “not racist” by applying slavery “to white people too.” They’ve been enslaving white people since way before we came to the US. I am, by family, English & Irish. So just because I’m blond, blue and white don’t mean I’m not ready to WAR against slavery by the corporations or any bullshit hedgemony. Democratic party is as guilty as the republicans and their claim to fight is just sucker lies. They don’t fight shit for real and Biden is just Trumps most active cock sucking bitch.

                • @poopkins@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  41 year ago

                  I don’t mean this in any disrespectful way at all, but I’m completely missing the context of what you’re trying to tell me and genuinely have no idea what you’re talking about.

      • KptnAutismus
        link
        fedilink
        English
        11 year ago

        yup, pirated jedi: fallen order. liked the game very much, but jedi: survivor wasn’t cracked yet. so i bought a key for 30€.

        the problem is: it runs like shit, because it’s a bad PS5 port and denuvo probably also has an effect on that.

        i will never buy from EA again.

      • @poopkins@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        -71 year ago

        As every musician knows, exposure is always better than payment! This is why you shouldn’t offer payment to musicians at your wedding, since they’re getting great exposure already. /s

        • @Gonzako@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          91 year ago

          That’s two very different cases. Using exposure to extort services out people is different than copying something to see if you’d enjoy it.

          • @poopkins@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            -11 year ago

            It’s really not that different. The main difference is the audience size. For an independent musician selling merchandise, it would be equally insulting to them to tell them that they will be repaid in exposure if they give you one for free.

            Making a copy of something “to see if you’d enjoy it” or because it’s somehow great for their exposure is mental gymnastics to justify piracy. Let’s just call it intellectual property theft and stop beating around the bush.

            • @homicidalrobot@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              English
              31 year ago

              Copying isn’t theft. You’re about 40 years late to this conversation and you’re starting from the taste of boots? You’re equating an instantly reproducible, finished product with a service; your analogy sucks.

              • @poopkins@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                -1
                edit-2
                1 year ago

                The entire goal of my comment was to avoid mincing words. As somebody who has first hand experienced copyleft violation, it sure doesn’t feel different on the receiving end. I feel this very personal experience is equivocal to copyright infringement. I’m not licking any boots—thanks for that accusation.

                It’s easy to excuse illicit behavior from your armchair by gaslighting with the choice of words, because after all, violating copyright is just sticking it to the man, right? In truth, I feel that my software was stolen for profit and just for me as the little man, there’s no other word that comes to my mind than “theft.”

                • @homicidalrobot@lemm.ee
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  01 year ago

                  You should write an open letter to hobbyists. It worked for Gates. If your software was “stolen for profit” and that didn’t result in more people trying it and buying, I have bad news: it didn’t seem like it was worth the money to the people who tried it. JRC does many studies on piracy and the data shows that total sales are not displaced by piracy volume, again and again. You can make the argument that this is only true for games and music (typically the subject of these studies) but this hardline attitude of it being the same as stealing sucks.

      • @PrincessZelda@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        21 year ago

        Biggest personal examples are Minecraft and FL Studio. I asked my parents to buy Minecraft for me after a week of pirating it, and I bought an FL Studio license when I could afford to, nearly a decade after I first used it. I don’t use it much, but it felt right.

    • @abuttifulpigeon@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      -1
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      An associate of mine defines stealing as, “taking (either by cloning or removing) something (either digital or physical) of which is not of your original possession”

      If anyone has a rebuttal, please help.

      Edit: What’s with the downvotes? I’m on your side.

      • @Phrodo_00@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        21 year ago

        It’s because that’s not a common definition and it’s not even a good one. No normal person would call cloning stealing. Also, this completely misses lending, gifting, downloading a webpage or even renting. All of those would be stealing under this definition.

      • @OmegaPillar@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        8
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        It’s not really a rebuttal, but by that assessment, a person may not view a webpage, as the browser copies files from a distant server for viewing.

      • @poopkins@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        11 year ago

        Hi, welcome to the Technology community here on Lemmy! Discourse is not tolerated here, so please just tack on your endorsement of piracy and leave your civility at the door.

          • @poopkins@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            21 year ago

            Whoa whoa, we don’t take kindly to people telling us that. Only a boot-licking, brain-dead, corporate shill wouldn’t outright endorse piracy. Take your nuance somewhere else, pal!

      • @merc@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        11 year ago

        Who cares what your associate uses as a definition, stealing / theft has long established definitions. You can just point and laugh and say that your associate doesn’t actually understand the words he/she is using.

        You could say that you define agreeing as “thinking someone is completely wrong”, and that you agree with your associate.

      • @TheDezzick@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        21 year ago

        It’s not so much a rebuttal, but ask if they think stealing has any relation to depriving another person of something. Imo, they have a correct, though extremely narrow, definition of stealing that doesn’t leave any nuance for comparing different kinds of stealing. Piracy, or as they would say ‘stealing digital media’ is not a kind of stealing that deprives another person of that thing, so clearly it’s somewhat different than stealing money or physical property.

        If they aren’t willing to entertain that there are different kinds of stealing then they’re ignorant of reality and it might not be worth your time to try to change their mind.

    • @Katana314@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      -21 year ago

      The war of semantics is about as intelligent as the tweet that went viral where someone criticized trains requiring tickets. “Why are you charging me to get on? You’re going that way anyway.”

    • @blusterydayve26@midwest.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      1
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Stealing is a crime that goes back to the 10 commandments, it’s old.

      https://youtu.be/Qi5GXwY7W_0?t=165

      Not exactly. The original translation from Hebrew was closer to “thou shall not kidnap,” arresting control of a person’s personal boundaries and will, not a violation of personal property, which didn’t really exist as a concept at the time.

  • @yum_burnt_toast@reddthat.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    11 year ago

    the way i see it, on big budget productions anyone who is relying on their paycheck to survive already got paid for their work, and the ones collecting royalties or sales percentages are rich enough that i couldnt care less. smaller independent studios or individual creators are the ones that i will always support, and in cases like itch.io games that are pwyw i will take the free download and figure out how much i will pay based on how much i like the game.

    • @ParsnipWitch@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      11 year ago

      Don’t you see the problem in your reasoning? When everyone would just pirate, nobody would be able to get paid. The money that pays the wages for the workers isn’t willed into existence, it ultimately comes from the consumer. Bigger studios pay their workers before the project is finished. That money comes from ongoing sales they produced before.

      • @yum_burnt_toast@reddthat.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        11 year ago

        i would see your point if my reasoning were extended beyond where my boundaries are set. my position is based on a lot of factors and isnt a blanket statement that piracy is never immoral or that everyone should pirate all the time regardless of circumstances. if everyone were to pirate, it would certainly change my perspective on it as a broad practice, though not absolutely.

        my argument, at least from the perspective of my original comment, was more of a reflection of my feelings that the least deserving are making the most profit off of any given large studio property, and i advocated piracy as a reaction to that given current studio structuring and the state of the entertainment market. and i understand that the profit of previous properties are directly responsible for the amount invested in subsequent works, but there is a certain degree of profitability which makes me feel like any argument about how piracy is hurting business is petty complaining over what is comparitively loose change for those that continue to be paid. i dont quite get a pang of empathy for a few thousand or even tens of thousands of instances of piracy for a property with profits in the hundres of millions considering how many instances were from people priced out anyway.

      • @KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        71 year ago

        If I’m pirating, it means I either can’t afford the item, it’s too hard to get, or the ways to get it have been made overly complex and frustrating. This means literally no money was ever going in anyone’s pockets to begin with.

        How am I preventing a sale that was never going to take place to begin with?

    • @A2PKXG@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      21 year ago

      That’s Like saying I don’t pay rent to the landlord, the house has already been built.

      If a society agrees on this being right, no more houses will be built. And no movies will be made.

      • @gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        31 year ago

        If society agrees on something like that then houses will still get built as obviously we’ve entered the socialist utopia were all waiting for

        Capitalist brains stuck on “buh peeps need money or not do nothin”

      • @yum_burnt_toast@reddthat.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        11 year ago

        well, when reduced to those terms they so seem to be similar concepts but needs and luxuries are not exactly equivalent, not to mention the difference between a tangible possession vs an intangible “experience” which have wildly different relationships, transaction types, and even grey area over what is considered piracy.

        also, claiming society has agreed on these exchanges being “right” isnt exactly accurate. society certainly tolerates these exchanges, but to what degree has changed significantly in recent years. theres a good debate over intellectual property ownership, and whether the original idea is more valuable than the creation of the work itself. certain aspects of filmmaking, for instance, are recognized as being more significant to the finished work than some other roles (directors, cinematographers, etc) but the fair compensation of other roles which make no less significant contributions to the relevance of any work is a subject on which society cannot make a fair judgment without knowing the details of every relationship.

        in the end, i believe piracy is and should be viewed as an organic market force which should prompt corrections in order to minimize, but due to the nature of the transaction it will never go away.

  • @Oisteink@feddit.nl
    link
    fedilink
    English
    01 year ago

    The fact that no product is missing anywhere means it’s not stealing.

    If you rent your car from Mercedes and I make a copy of it, the only change is that I’ve not copied your car, I’ve copied Mercedes’.

    • @ParsnipWitch@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      -2
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      By this logic no services should be paid. Are you really just hung up on the word “stealing”? It is wrong to go against an agreement or to take the work of others and not pay for it simply because it’s easy to do that when the work isn’t tangible.

      Are people really that fucked up today?

      • @lolcatnip@reddthat.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        31 year ago

        I never made an agreement but to copy things without paying. That agreement was made on my behalf, and if you look into the history of it, it’s really fucking shady. Copyright in the US originally lasted 20 years (IIRC), and I would be ok with that, but big copyright holders successfully bribed lawmakers to extend the term until now it’s effectively infinite.

        So tell me, was it immoral to ignore copyrights after 20 years when that was the law? Did changing the law change what’s moral?

      • @Oisteink@feddit.nl
        link
        fedilink
        English
        21 year ago

        I’m not talking about payment, I’m talking about if it’s stealing or not. It might be copyright infringement depending on local law, but it’s not stealing. Selling a copy might be counterfeiting.