• 𝔄𝔩𝔩𝔞𝔫@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’m amused at these statements these ‘wannabe’ pirates make to justify piracy. A smart person would pirate quietly without letting the world know or justifying it.

    I know why I do it & I don’t want some validation, internet points, 2 minutes of fame to sound / look cool.

      • TommySalami@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Theres some truth to this, but a lot of people do use this as a shield against the general cultural acceptance that piracy is stealing or otherwise morally underhanded. I do it, but I don’t have any illusion I’m one of the activists. I just get indignant and refuse to pay someone for content or entertainment who I think is damaging to the medium or predatory in general. I feel like if I really wanted to make a statement, I just wouldn’t consume their work at all – but life is short and I want to have my cake and eat it too.

        • Cabrio@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          It’s possible to do both, I consume plenty of pirated media simply because it’s unavailable due to pathetic capitalist imposed digital distribution limitations and lack of equitable paid access.

          I also consume other pirated media because I wouldn’t spend my resources for access because I don’t yet know the value of the content and won’t pay just for an opportunity to be disappointed, been there enough times to have learned that lesson. I’m happy to spend my time to find out your media sucks, but not my money, because that’s also my time with the addition that I’ve put actual effort into converting it into fungible assets.

          I also deliberately pirate media that I would pay for and do understand the value of, both because I can’t always afford to purchase said product from a company making billions of dollars in exploitative corporate profits and because I have no interest in caring about that over my own personal satisfaction in life.

          • FactorSD@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            1 year ago

            Wouldn’t it achieve more to boycott things instead? If you won’t even give up watching a tv show, you aren’t an activist you are just complaining on the internet.

    • quirzle@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      I don’t want some validation, internet points, 2 minutes of fame to sound / look cool.

      No, you just need everyone to know you don’t care about sounding/looking cool to sound/look cool. Totally different.

    • Compactor9679@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      “A smart person would pirate quietly without letting the world know” While posting “I do it & I don’t want some validation…”

  • what@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Until we live in a world where people have equal access to information and essential technology piracy is a moral imperative.

    Should something which costs a few hours worth of work in the developed word cost three weeks worth of work in a less developed country, just to make a publishing company worth tens or hundreds of millions of dollars a few extra bucks? Of course not!

    Every other argument is a moot point to me. If I hadn’t pirated Photoshop and other software when I was a poor kid I wouldn’t have the six figure career I have today. The ultrarich steal from us every day in more ways than I can count. Maybe when they start being held accountable I will start caring about their bottom line.

  • crunchpaste@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    Do we really need excuses for pirating media?

    I pirate movies because I think digital access to them is overpriced, goes to the copyright holder instead of the creators, it’s convenient and most importantly because I can.

    I can’t pirate going to the cinema, nor can I afford to build my own, therefore I gladly pay to have a seat and enjoy a movie there.

    Edit: I thought this may be relevant to the movies example I gave. I don’t think movie studios, giving nothing back to society after massive profits are the ones we should debate the morals of stealing with.

  • LeHappStick@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Here I am wondering why there is still a downvote button in the YouTube comments… it does nothing!

    • Poob@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      The same reason that a lot of crosswalks have fake buttons. So you feel like you have control.

    • BeegYoshi@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Actually it’s worse than nothing. Youtube promotes comments based on engagement, so while only an upvote increases the tally, voting at all still makes it more visible.

  • Sentinian@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    Can we not become subreddit by posting this shitty screenshots trying to justify our reasons? Just share your media and enjoy it.

    • _number8_@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      what do you mean trying to justify? discussion of shitty anti consumer tactics in digital media is perfectly valid

      • Sentinian@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        A screenshot of some comment is not really discussion though. This is a pretty base level understanding of the concept, which is why I say it’s more cope then actual discussion.

        • denemdenem@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          This is one of the most popular posts this week here with more than 4 HUNDRED comments. I don’t know what you view as a discussion but I think this was a pretty successful attempt at creating one.

          • Sentinian@lemmy.one
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            1 year ago

            I will say this thread had way more discussion then I was expecting when I originally posted this. My point about the screenshot still stands, I would much prefer we discuss something new related to sharing media, instead of recycling the same discussion about why its justified to copyright infringe.

  • MisterFrog@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I think this logic is silly.

    Employers don’t own you, so witholding wages for services you provided isn’t stealing. Getting a haircut and not paying isn’t stealing.

    I think the better justification is: rights holders make it a pain in the arse to access content affordably, so fuck you, just going to steal it.

    • mineapple@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      You’re only partly right. You example services. Of course it is not possible to own services. Piracy is only applicable to products. The point of the Twitter guy is, that companies intentionally stop selling their software etc. as products to sell you the same thing as a service, so that you cannot own it.

  • snor10@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Our current system of copyright is flawed and only serves the interests of corporations.

  • Gsus4@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    Major reason not to buy ebooks from amazon: you can’t lend, give, exchange, sell them and you may lose all of them if you anger the right people. They are not yours, you are not buying them, you merely paid for conditioned access to them.

    • BeardyGrumps@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It’s the same with steam games and other online stores. You are granted a licence to use the software; not to own it.

      • AArun@programming.dev
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        1 year ago

        Steam is a glowing example of how to prevent piracy though. Because even if I own the games I can still loan them out. I can play the games across all of my devices. Steam has gone above and beyond to give you a reason to not pirate. I buy my games because the convenience steam provides without hindering my actual ownership of them.

  • HexesofVexes@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    You know, there is less ethical angst over making a copy of something you can ONLY rent vs something you can buy.

    However, both options are stealing under most laws!

  • Gearheart@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Unsure if anyone can clarify. But my understanding that simply downloading a watching isn’t an issue.

    Selling illegally copied content is what can cause real legal issues.

    I’m uncertain of any cases of anyone getting in trouble for simply watching copied content.

    Example… 1st user pirates movies or videos and uploads them to YouTube or any streaming company.

    2nd User then streams or downloads them to watch them offline. I’ve yet to see the 2nd user in this scenario face legal consequences.

    Vs

    2nd User then streams or downloads content and makes money off it. Here I see the 2nd user have legal issues.

    Again I’m just a regular guy going based on regular guy logic.

    • Digester@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Copyright infringement laws vary but even though simply downloading copyrighted material is against policies, it’s hard to enforce and most copyright holders don’t always find grounds for a lawsuit or it’s straight up not worth pursuing. You downloading a movie off a website is the same as a friend of yours sharing the same movie with you on a USB stick.

      Actions against unauthorized distribution of copyrighted materials (especially if it’s for profit) on the other hand are much more easily enforceable.

    • Kinglink@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Downloading and watching is a crime. One night be able to say they didn’t know what they were downloading but likely the file name and site or torrent is a good clue that’s bullshit.

      Your probably discussing chance of getting caught. You likely will see a DMCA complaint or something like that to your ISP at worse for downloading but enough of these might get your service terminated (some ISP don’t care.)

      Sharing the files and usually sharing a lot of files publicly or semi publicly will get you more attention and that will get the media companies more likely to take you down as a distributor.

      VPN and smart browsing habits will reduce a lot of this risk though.

      Think of downloading is one star in GTA. They will chase you if they are you. Uploading is two stars when they start shooting at you. Profiting of it is like three stars and that’s when they get more aggressive. You can get busted at one star but it’s just very unlikely.

  • Comtief@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Nonsense, paying doesn’t always mean you get to own it. I would understand the excuse more if you let’s say bought a game on Steam, but then Steam went away forever and you lost the game and you don’t want to pay for it again. But by that time the game would be super cheap anyway… Well, unless it was now unavailable, then piracy is the only solution to actually getting it.

    • matey@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      The real friends were the piracy we undertook along the way.

      Remember: friends come and go, but pirated media is forever (as long as you have good backups).

    • Mango@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      That’s my YouTube comment. You and so many others are making me feel like a badass. 😎