No, it’s not like stealing a physical item from a store.
“stealing” a digital copy of a movie, tv show or a game is like if the item you’re stealing from a store is infinitely copyable. Like the replicator from star trek…or that one episode of Sabrina the teenage witch with that box that can make a perfect copy of everything you put inside of it.
Of course I personally would never pirate anything, no matter how much streaming services increase their prices or how much they crack down on VPN usage to get around geo-restrictions, PIRACY IS BAD AND ONLY BAD PEOPLE DO IT.
I’ve never pirated anything in my whole life!
There are people who understand what I’m saying…but apparently most people don’t get it.
Of course that means I still would never pirate anything. That would be horrible to “steal” a copy of a movie or a TV show
People try to boil these things down to incredibly simplistic rules in an effort to justify what they’ve already decided they’re going to do.
I am pro piracy, as I imagine virtually everyone on this community is. But I also think people get way too reductionist because that is easier than engaging with the nuances of what it means to “steal” or “pirate” or when we are or aren’t hurting a creator.
I think the pros vastly outweigh the cons, the “victims” are few and far between due to it being so rare/situational as to make it ok to functionally treat it like there are none, and I also think all the people arguing they are “doing media preservation” who don’t even know what a proper 3-2-1 backup is are full of shit lol. I also think people need to accept the fact they just want free shit sometimes and trying to dress up their motivations/sense of entitlement to free media with high minded arguments about sticking it to corporations or whatever is disingenuous - just own the decision!
I use my server because it is convenient and because I don’t want my kids being visually assaulted and manipulated every time they turn on a tv. I used to watch one of them visibly become panicked when all the tiles of a streaming service would pop up in front of him, it was just so overwhelming. I went a solid seven or eight years without the high seas because there was a time when streaming services were reasonably priced, convenient, and not dominated by ads. Now that that is no longer the case, I have gone back to my server. Simple as that.
I don’t mind paying for a service, I don’t even mind the occasional advertisement in my life. But what we have right now is absolutely ridiculous and easily justifies so many reasons for pirating.
All of this is to say you’re not gonna find people here who disagree with your decision to pirate. But you’re also not going to find some airtight philosophical argument that works 100% of the time. You have to consider the ethical implications of your actions in your day-to-day life, there are no simple rules to avoid that.
good comment
I do mind any and all advertising, I want zero advertising in my life. Except the ads from Apeldoorn insurers, those are the best.
Having said that, I don’t mind paying but then I want to pay and be able to see everything. The problem now is that in a world where all companies consolidao into one per market, on the media provide lr side, very conveniently, everything is fracturing into dozens of provii, each with their exclusive content. Totally not conspiratorial, just a convenient coincidence that makes then a boatload of extra money.
Fuck. That. Shit.
I want one provider with everything or aaaarr going to have to go to alternative sources
I don’t need one provider with everything, in fact that would lead to a terrible media environment. But I do think your price should be appropriate for the quality of your catalog, and as the catalogs get worse they’re all increasing their prices.
Ideally I would want to see zero advertisements in my life but I am capable of compromise. If you want to throw ads because something is otherwise free, I don’t know man that’s fair play if you ask me. We live in a capitalist society, you have to keep the lights on somehow. But if I’m paying money I don’t want see a single ad anywhere.
There is no “stealing from corporations”
It’s as easy as that
No but i dont care
I’ve been pirating for years. I just don’t want to pay for things
This is me.
I just don’t care about the moral or ethical considerations.
The only person stealing is the one who circumvents the DRM and shares it. It’s not stealing to see or hear something.
If “buying” is not owning, then “piracy” is not stealing.
and steal other things as well
I mean, the replicator is making food out of SOMETHING. I’m guessing it’s some kind of waste produce from the engine room. It needs matter to operate. It can’t create ex-nihilo.
The replicator from Star Trek makes matter out of pure energy, not out of other matter. It can make almost anything out of matter, so long as it has the molecular pattern on file, and the ship has enough energy available to power the replicators. That energy comes primarily from energy storage dedicated to replicator production, but in emergencies where a massive amount of matter need fabricated, additional power can be provided by the warp core.
So they’re using several hiroshima’s or nagasaki’s worth of nuclear bomb’s energy to produce a cup of Earl Gray, hot? Seems like using garbage or human waste would save a lot of energy?
Maybe I’m misunderstanding the power required to produce a small amount of matter?
While we’re at it, is a transporter actually transporting me? Or is it technically really replicating me?
Because what I assumed was happening was they essentially had a transporter like device that would take some matter (say a big pile of human dung) transport it (i.e, convert it into the atoms/energy/whatever the transporter uses run it through a pattern buffer that’s stored in the transporter for say, Earl Gray hot) and beam it into the Captain’s quarters as Earl Gray hot instead of poop.
A cup of tea is around 500megatons if you convert all the matter into energy. We’re talking a few thousand Hiroshimas.
I think conversion from matter to energy and back again seems extreme. Maybe it’s just matter to matter but something quantum level.
Do they use the replicator when they’re not moving? Maybe they’re just picking up some hydrogen along the way?
Seems like high energy particles are easier to convert into new elements than low energy ones. Perhaps they’re transcribing uranium with the ingredients. Who knows.
It is always morally acceptable to pirate things
made by giant corporationsFixed it for you.
I’d make a point saying that there’s a personal moral and a broader societal understanding of morality, and they don’t always align.
That’s a fair point.
I mean. I remember an article about an Amiga program that everyone used cracked, that only sold 1 copy. Sucks to be a small author in such a scenario.
No, it’s not like stealing a physical item from a store.
I’d argue stealing physical items from massive corporations is also morally acceptable. If you shoplift from a small mom & pop store, you’re actively hurting your community, however, if you shoplift from Wal-Mart, you’re actively hurting an entity which is hurting your community, therefore helping your community.
Shoplifting from Walmart hurts my knees because the boss won’t believe that our onhand numbers are wrong and makes me check high and low before I can nil pick it 🥲
This isn’t an ethical argument against shoplifting btw, this is an ethical argument in favor of nuking Walmart
If you shoplift from a small mom & pop store, you’re actively hurting your community
Unless you’re part of a riot, then it’s okay.
Terrible bait. I’m disappointed.
Stealing sustinence from societal cancer is practically an immune response.
Theft from the wealthy is morally right, period.
Piracy is not theft.
How do you define “wealthy”?
Stealing from a millionaire that actually operates his or her own business is not the same thing as stealing from someone like Jeff Bezos who doesn’t lift a fucking finger to contribute to the operation of the dozen or so businesses he owns.
You have to have nuance. Not everything is as simple as you made it sound.
Given that no one makes a fuss about it when corporations do the stealing, I think so.
PIRACY IS BAD AND ONLY BAD PEOPLE DO IT.
I’ve never pirated anything in my whole life!
Good thing you said that, I was about to send some agents to have a “nice chat” with you.
my view on it lies in two seperate buckets:
- if the thing being pirated is vastly overpriced for its function i don’t see it as immoral
- if the thing being pirated is no longer available or was never made available for private ownership, ie only able to be streamed and only available on said service so long as the host streamer still has rights to do so, it isn’t immoral.
and just to be clear, i don’t see piracy as inherently evil or anticapitalistic. there have been several books and apps that i pirated that i liked and converted to an actual buyer to get more books in the series or get updates to the program.
Big agree, also now I want to rewatch Sabrina the Teenage Witch lol
If they keep raising my food subscription I’m gonna start pirating from supermarkets too
