this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2025
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Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

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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

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[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 15 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The number of examples of media becoming unreachable to paying consumers keeps growing.

Warner Brothers (Max) is the greatest example of this. Years of content from Cartoon Network just disappeared, leaving the consumer no legal avenue to enjoy some of their favorite shows.

I do not advocate for piracy. I advocate for archiving.

[–] MajorHavoc@programming.dev 10 points 3 days ago

I do not advocate for piracy. I advocate for archiving.

Exactly. And if the assholes make it illegal for librarians, well then yo ho ho.

[–] Kekzkrieger@feddit.org 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

My moral is always on match with that of the company so in most cases everything is acceptable.

[–] WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

I decided on my moral beliefs on piracy back during the days of Kazaa and Limewire. Back then the RIAA was shaking down teenagers, threatening them with statutory liabilities of a quarter million dollars per song, simply because the law allowed it. They would threaten low-income families with lawsuits in the millions and get them to settle for a still-ridiculous settlement of few thousand dollars. Even the settlements were far in excess of the full retail cost of purchasing these songs.

I decided then that if the law allows this kind of thing, then copyright law as it exists now is fundamentally immoral. And immoral laws are not worthy of respect.

I mostly take a pragmatic approach to copyright. Whether I pay for something is a combination of the quality of the work, the reputation of the company selling it, the customer service provided by the legitimate product, the probability of getting caught for violating copyright law, etc. An indie publisher that treats their people well? I'll buy it. Mass market schlock made by criminally underpaid artists for rent-seeking megacorps? I'll pirate that all day, every day.

But morality literally plays no part in it. I learned long ago that copyright law exists outside of the realm of morality. The decision to buy or pirate is an entirely practical one; morality simply isn't a factor.

[–] ctkatz@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 days ago

my view on it lies in two seperate buckets:

  1. if the thing being pirated is vastly overpriced for its function i don't see it as immoral
  2. 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.

[–] drascus@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago

And yet you can borrow anything from the local library for free and its considered totally fine and not pirating.

[–] lemmeBe@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 days ago
[–] Zier@fedia.io 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

When you download music online for free and prevent the company from making a profit off of a creative work by the artist, that they prevented from making a profit & royalties, is that wrong? Doubtful. You can always send the artist money directly if you want to support them.

[–] ThatGuyNamedZeus@feddit.org 7 points 3 days ago

the DMCA doesn't protect the artists or any of the singers, it protects the shitty record labels and the money that the executives at those companies get

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.

[–] Hegar@fedia.io 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Stealing a physical item from a giant corporate store is also always morally acceptable.

Having power neurologically suppresses empathy. Therefor resources controlled by the powerful will on average be used more harmfully. Taking resources from the powerful reduces total harm done.

You will use a loaf of bread less harmfully than Walmart will use the profit from it.

[–] ThatGuyNamedZeus@feddit.org 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Stealing a physical item from a giant corporate store is also always morally acceptable.

not really, it makes the store lock everything up behind plexiglass creating more friction for paying customers too.

Of course, theft wouldn't happen nearly as much if no one was desperate the survive, but even then there'd still be entitled assholes that want even more.

[–] Hegar@fedia.io 2 points 3 days ago

not really, it makes the store lock everything up behind plexiglass creating more friction for paying customers too.

That's not really harm in the way that hunger or poverty or lobbying against workers protections is harm. That's more like a temporary inconvenience that doesn't stop anyone getting what they need, right?

[–] squid@feddit.uk 2 points 2 days ago

Private property is theft piracy in all forms is morally exceptable. DMCA actively harms progress, and this isn't some techbro take as I disagree with AI.

[–] _cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

It is always morally acceptable to pirate things ~~made by giant corporations~~

Fixed it for you.

[–] viking@infosec.pub 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] _cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 days ago

That's a fair point.

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[–] josie@vegantheoryclub.org 2 points 2 days ago

Big agree, also now I want to rewatch Sabrina the Teenage Witch lol

[–] Anarki_@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 3 days ago

Rage bait. Yawn.

[–] Asparagus0098@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago

Personally I don't really care too much about whether it's moral or not. I pirate when I feel like it and don't when I don't feel like it. I also pay for some things that I pirated before and enjoyed as long as it isn't too expensive.

[–] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] _cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] ___@lemm.ee 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

A cup of tea is around 500megatons if you convert all the matter into energy. We’re talking a few thousand Hiroshimas.

[–] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I think conversion from matter to energy and back again seems extreme. Maybe it's just matter to matter but something quantum level.

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[–] Chozo@fedia.io 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

"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.

What if it's a physical Blu-ray? Those are infinitely copyable.

[–] ThatGuyNamedZeus@feddit.org 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

physical media is a physical finite item. digital media can be copied infinitely

the reason why physical media is getting harder and harder to find is because the copyright nazis can't control it. If they want to memory-hole a scene, they can't change the content of that blu-ray disc with the original version on it

[–] ComradeMiao@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 days ago

and steal other things as well

[–] killabeezio@lemm.ee 2 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Can you further expand on why you think it's bad? I'm generally curious.

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[–] Imprint9816@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (8 children)

Pirates constantly trying to "morally" justify their action is by far the worst part of all pirate forums.

Its embarrassing how many pirates need the validation of strangers on the internet.

Isn't there a philosophy forum that these people could spam instead?

[–] WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Meanwhile, your morality is just the bandwagon effect.

[–] Imprint9816@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

non sequitur much hahah

[–] thisnameisnottolong@aussie.zone 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

~~Pirates~~ commenters constantly trying to "morally" justify their ~~action~~ opinion is by far the worst part of all ~~pirate~~ forums.

Its embarrassing how many ~~pirates~~ commenters need the validation of strangers on the internet.

Isn't there a philosophy forum that these people could spam instead?

Ftfy

[–] Imprint9816@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 2 days ago

Lol so butthurt

[–] azalty@jlai.lu 1 points 2 days ago
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