Piracy?

[Karellen]

I think you're overlooking the bigger issue here: your friend is so lazy she has to have books read to her.

[Skystone]

Im not argueing it for her to be arrested im argueing it because its just plain wrong, say for instance you make a song and decided to sell it as a single that - from the reaction of most of the people here - instead of buy the song they decided to download it, it equates to people takeing money out of your own wallet. its like haveing an awesome collection of rare games and haveing someone laugh at you because they never bothered to fork out the cash just to play it.

Piracy is illigal for a reason, technacally or not.

This is not necessarily true. If one downloads something that one would not have purchased, there is simply no loss; the quantity of money received by the composer/performer/record company does not change. If, however, one downloads something, likes it, and purchases a copy for the sake of supporting the author (or purchases a copy of some later work knowing, from piratical experience, that the artists produces good music), then more money can be made.

It's illegal because companies have a skewed conception of income and are money-hungry. We don't, for instance, see book publishers freaking out because it's legal to copy their works on the photocopiers that essentially every library has.

Now this is just plain wrong, Fileshareing is piracy for the simple fact that the person didnt buy the file, think about what would happen if more and more people shared, eventually nothing would be sold, therefore the product would stop getting made fileshareing will eventually lead to recession, jobs lost ect... its an endless spiral of recession, more people share less people pay prices raise so the product can make some profit, less people buy as item's become to expencive... dont you see this will happen the more people fileshare.

By the same logic: teaching is plain wrong for the simple fact that, if everyone became a teacher, stores would shut down, farmers wouldn't farm and we'd all die of starvation -- albeit in a fairly educated manner. We simply cannot state that something is wrong due to problems caused by a majority of people partaking of that action.

IMHO nothing does get done about it because if somthing was done then 90% of the virtual population would lhave to be arrested.

It's also not always illegal. It is technically legal in Canada, due to a special tax on blank CDs , to download music or acquire it from peer-to-peer networks (to the great consternation of the RIAA).

So, it depends. Where are you from? If it is piracy, then it may not be, depending on where you live, illegal piracy (and 'legal' piracy is a slightly odd term, is it not?). But the bigger and far more important question, as you seem to have to be asking for a moral judgment, is whether it's justifiably illegal in countries like the US.

[Zeromus_X]

The audio recording of a book is not the same thing as the book. And even if she owned the audio version, downloading it is still illegal.

But who cares?

[Carl the Llama]

This is not necessarily true. If one downloads something that one would not have purchased, there is simply no loss; the quantity of money received by the composer/performer/record company does not change.

but why should someone download somthing if they would not buy it: because they are unwilling to fork out the cash for it.

Have you ever seen a guy who hates chick flicks buy Sence and Sencibility for himself?

If, however, one downloads something, likes it, and purchases a copy for the sake of supporting the author (or purchases a copy of some later work knowing, from piratical experience, that the artists produces good music), then more money can be made.

There are other ways to find out if you dont like somthing before commiting to buying said item: read about it, ask about it on a forum watch clips of it/listen to the radio and to be perfectly frank, id be completely shocked if even 0.1% people who file share do actully go out and buy the thing they downloaded.

It's illegal because companies have a skewed conception of income and are money-hungry. We don't, for instance, see book publishers freaking out because it's legal to copy their works on the photocopiers that essentially every library has.

So you make an awesome invention patent it and the some random guy comes along, takes your invention find out how it works and then bam releases his own version, and hands it out for free that it is right? think of all the hard work that you put in that just went down the drain.

Now this is just plain wrong, Fileshareing is piracy for the simple fact that the person didnt buy the file, think about what would happen if more and more people shared, eventually nothing would be sold, therefore the product would stop getting made fileshareing will eventually lead to recession, jobs lost ect... its an endless spiral of recession, more people share less people pay prices raise so the product can make some profit, less people buy as item's become to expencive... dont you see this will happen the more people fileshare.

By the same logic: teaching is plain wrong for the simple fact that, if everyone became a teacher, stores would shut down, farmers wouldn't farm and we'd all die of starvation -- albeit in a fairly educated manner. We simply cannot state that something is wrong due to problems caused by a majority of people partaking of that action.

Is there a law against teaching?

The audio recording of a book is not the same thing as the book. And even if she owned the audio version, downloading it is still illegal.

But who cares?

Me.

[XxSephirothxX]

Well, that's the harsh reality of the internet. You can try to convince your friend not to do something you find morally wrong, but you're unlikely to find much support on the tubes.

[MadeOfApples]

I pirate things quite often.

Every DVD and VHS tape I own, I have a version of it on my computer. Same with all my CD's and Playstation titles. If it doesn't have an official US release, I also download it.

The only English things I download are TV programs and mainly because they aren't released on DVD yet.

As for books... I download them. I usually delete them as soon as I read them, if I like them enough, I'll buy them. Otherwise, I don't see how its any difference than checking them out from the library...

Eh.

[Serapy]

Now this is just plain wrong, Fileshareing is piracy for the simple fact that the person didnt buy the file, think about what would happen if more and more people shared, eventually nothing would be sold, therefore the product would stop getting made fileshareing will eventually lead to recession, jobs lost ect... its an endless spiral of recession, more people share less people pay prices raise so the product can make some profit, less people buy as item's become to expencive... dont you see this will happen the more people fileshare.

If a product is being sold nationwide or worldwide, there will always be a good amount of people that will purchase the product legally and other people who pirate the product usually is a smaller amount. It's not like the company will stop functioning just because some one has downloaded the product illegally.

Those companies already have made a lot of money off products that they have sold. The reason why they are complaining about someone downloading thier products illegally is because they are greedy.

There's a good thing about piracy, do you know what that is? Basically, the more people fileshares it; it becomes another advertisement. Certain people will look at this product off warez websites, they download it and messed around with it. If they are happy with the product, there's a good chance that they will buy it legally to support thier creations.

Sure, piracy is bad but not better than pure theft.

[ShunNakamura]

So you make an awesome invention patent it and the some random guy comes along, takes your invention find out how it works and then bam releases his own version, and hands it out for free that it is right? think of all the hard work that you put in that just went down the drain.

SWEET! Good for him. He somehow magically produced something that I figured would be costly to produce! As long as he doesn't claim he designed it or sell it for his own profit I don't care. The more people who receive my work. The happier I am!

Also, There is evidence that file sharing raises profits. Authors who have released their books in online form for free often raise their sales of that very book and other books released by the author in the process. Basically filesharing requires no legislation to beat, just corporate ingenuity. Filesharing is merely the backlash caused by companies and the ilk not being able to keep up with the times.

There are other ways to find out if you dont like somthing before commiting to buying said item: read about it, ask about it on a forum watch clips of it/listen to the radio and to be perfectly frank, id be completely shocked if even 0.1% people who file share do actully go out and buy the thing they downloaded.

Read about it- Failure + 20 to no effect.
Ask about it - Success + 10 to Failure + 20
Watch Clips - Success + 20 to Failure +20
Radio - N/A since anything I would listen to won't make it on the radio here anyways.

Basically the above has NEVER worked for me(well sometimes for anime clips will help, but only sometimes and asking someone with the same tastes if I can find one will also sometimes help).

I have a better chance of liking something if I just grab it at a whim(i.e. Relying on intuition when I see it on the shelf at a store or library). Considering how many books I read I can easily say that most of the time Asking about it and Reading reviews and all that about it don't help in the least.

Note: The failure is when the information from those sources create hype that falls flat horrible(ie. it makes me want to buy, but when I buy I realize I just wasted my money/time on a piece of <img src="http://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/rpg_009.gif" alt="skull" /><img src="http://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/rpg_009.gif" alt="skull" /><img src="http://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/rpg_009.gif" alt="skull" /><img src="http://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/rpg_009.gif" alt="skull" />).

For example, I first pirated Lords of Magic SE. About a year later I passed it while in the store(and I had cash on me), so I picked it up and bought it. This way I get a nice box and a nice manual to go with it. Also a lot of the anime/manga I watch/read fan-translated I will borrow from the library or purchase once I spot it in English. Also a lot of books I borrow from the library I will purchase my own copy of(even if only used). I like to keep my own library of my favorites. I can reread a particular book 10+ times in just a few years if I really like it. Just easier to have my own bound copy.

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