so how is online piracy justified again?

so i haven't discussed piracy in years now...what is your personal opinion on piracy these days? this is not an attack on people who download illegally, i don't want to get verbally beaten up again. i used to be guilty of it too yes but now every album i love is on youtube so i don't download music anymore...obviously i'm not saying i'm a saint. but forget about you and me downloading and focus on piracy itself.

how is game of thrones holding a knife to your throat telling you to download it. how is the latest porn scene of your favorite girl aiming a gun at your head telling you to download it (talking specifically about torrents here and not tube sites where you stream the scenes). how did the latest big blockbuster film or whatever, threaten to kill your mother if you didn't download it.

does it matter that your money goes mainly to people who are already rich. personally i don't hate rich people, i think it it's wrong to hate people who are wealthier than yourself. i just don't understand. that guy could be the richest guy on the planet living in a huge mansion with ten swimming pools and five hot girl friends stuck to his body and i could be the poorest person on the planet eating dirt looking for water and covered in flies. that still doesn't make it magically okay for me to download that guy's products. i think.

one of the arguments use in support of piracy is that times are changing and information should be inherently free. copyright be damned. in a way what is said about the times changing is true but that doesn't make piracy legal. there are laws to uphold. this argument has a strong side as mentioned, but the weak side is that it is used to justify illegal downloading. you could argue that humans are inherently free to move to wherever they want to. so, don't like illegal immigration? too bad because if piracy is ok, illegal aliens should be ok too.

point is, i have never really come across a 100% solid ultimate argument that justifies piracy. yet almost everyone does it. at the most fundamental level, piracy is inherently wrong and there are laws in place against it. but if anyone can convince me in favour of piracy or more specifically, unrestricted and free acquistion of this type of information (media and entertainment) then my mind will finally be at peace

I doubt any clear line can be drawn whether it be for just one person or everybody. But in order to try let's start be defining the terms we are going to use.

What defines Piracy vs. Sharing???

If I buy a CD and loan it to you when is it piracy???

When you make a copy???

After I loan it out to 100 more people or 1000 more???

Or just loaning it to you???

What if I buy it, but then play it in the open for anyone to enjoy whenever they want???

The point is, I purchased it, but then after that point when is Sharing what I paid for become Piracy and exactly what is the difference between the two???

Tell me, when you purchase a CD do you charge everyone that can hear the music a fee and pass it along to the record label? If you aren't that technically is a form of piracy because that disc was meant for you to listen to not for you to share with others.

Do you allow people to borrow and view movies that you have purchased? If you said yes, then you better be charging them a fee and sending it along to the producing studio, because you purchased that for YOUR viewing not to be passed around to others that haven't paid for it, that is also a form of piracy.

If you have watched a movie at a friends house, you better get out your wallet and send the producing studio some cash because you just technically watched a movie that you didn't pay for.

Just my .02

look at this:
www.forbes.com...
HBO Has Only Itself To Blame For Record 'Game Of Thrones' Piracy
"HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’ is on its way to becoming the number one pirated show in America. Of course, they have only themselves to blame for this."

again i don't get this. blaming someone else for your own wrongdoing. how is HBO threatening to kill your mother if you don't watch their show?? do they force people to watch it?

"Now, it’s important to note the reason for all this piracy: lack of access to the show for people who can’t afford, or choose not to purchase, a cable-TV subscription."

well who says you're entitled to watch this show? again, how is this is immaterial object forcing itself upon you? if you can't afford something, tough. that's life. isn't that a basic rule in life? what was it again, nothing is for free/nothing in life is free/no stuch thing as a free lunch? but you don't need to watch this show to survive, right?

“HBO hasn’t helped the problem by making the show tough to watch online for the young and cable-less,” notes Greenberg. “The show isn’t available through Hulu or Netflix, iTunes offers only Season 1, and using HBO’s own streaming site HBO Go requires a cable subscription.”

well it's their frigging product. they can do with it whatever they want. no one has to tell them what to do here.

a reply to: SpaDe_

Or is something I pay for mine to do with as I please???

As long as I don't claim any of the material to be of my creation and give credit where credit is due and do not alter it from it's production form???

Also as long as I don't use that material to make a profit from it???

Why then should I not be allowed to enjoy it as I see fit, be it with friends, alone, once only or every single day all day long???

a reply to: mOjOm
www.it.umd.edu...
"What is online piracy?
Simply put, online piracy is the uploading, downloading, or swapping/sharing of copyrighted files without the copyright holder’s permission. These files may be songs, movies, television shows, videos, or any other type of digital material. Those who are caught engaging in online piracy can be charged with and possibly convicted of copyright infringement, a felony.

What is file sharing?
File sharing is the act of uploading files to the Internet or smaller networks so that they can be downloaded and played. File sharing depends on the use of file sharing programs, which are not in and of themselves illegal; however, using file sharing programs to bypass legal acquisition of and access to copyrighted materials is illegal. If copyright owners do not make their music or movies available to you for free downloading as part of a promotion, for example, or do not give you explicit permission to copy, distribute, and use their copyrighted music or movies, and/or you do not buy or pay a fee to download, copy, distribute, and use the music or movie, chances are good that you’re breaking the law."

I am a Playstation Plus subscriber , we get free games every month for each console i.e PS3, PS4 and VITA.
So what I do is go to my fathers, log into my account, and download the free game for his console too, I also do it for my nephew.
I don't know if i's illegal or not, but I will carry on doing it, i've paid for it and I now have 2 other consoles backing up my data.

It's the people who sell their downloads who are commiting a crime, and obviously the person in the cinema recording them.

If you catch my drift

a reply to: MeteoraXV

Ok, that covers online sharing which could also be considered illegal copying since the data itself is being reproduced.

What would be the difference if I invite someone to view it at my house on HBO which I pay for????

What if I invite the entire block to watch it???

Do they get to dictate who can watch my TV just because it's their show???

Economic system have become a great Ponzi scheme. Fix the economic system first so it is fair then we will talk about reasonable paying for what you are using.

There are some services that are quite good so that people stop pirating but if you are insanely greedy you are not gotta win the consent of the people however you spin the words.

OP How do you think about stream sites where it is streamed not downloaded the movie and share it with others and do not directly have access to a file?

a reply to: SpaDe_
yeah i've heard this argument before and honestly it's rather weak and falls apart rather quickly for obvious reasons (comparing small scale piracy in private sphere to large scale online piracy) but perhaps i should change the thread title to specifically discuss online piracy.

There are still a difference between a physical object and a non physical object.

Entertainment is not physical, therefore if you didn't make the entertainment it's not yours.

Music and movies are entertainment and therefore non physical, the media it comes on is physical but only a container of the entertainment.

It's the entertainment you pay for, not the container.

You own the container but not the entertainment, if you share the entertainment the people who watch/listen should pay the makers for the entertainment..

Unless you have permission to share which some makers allow..

a reply to: MeteoraXV

Please explain to me how this is a weak argument? Lets say I go to Walmart and have them digitize a movie that I have purchased. I then let a friend borrow the movie that I have paid for, he then lets two friends borrow the same movie that I have paid for, they in turn each let 3 friends borrow the same movie, and so on. How is this different if it was purchased and shared in an unaltered condition?

Explain that away logically and coherently as being illegal, and not being exactly the scenario I described in my previous post.

a reply to: Mianeye

How about if I buy it, paying 10 bucks. Watch it once then sell it someone else for 10 bucks. I don't have it and cannot share it but I have seen it. This continues with each person until only the very last person who keeps it has paid the 10 bucks for it???

a reply to: MeteoraXV
Justified???
Metallica killed my Napster!
Lil lars got so bent that he was losing .10 cents on every album, that he declared war.
These same people who downloaded "illegally" DID buy concert tickets and T-shirts, Etc. Of which the band gets a larger cut than that of the albums.
Since then I have taken every opportunity I can to trash talk metallica.
All of these songs could be heard on the radio and I remember waiting around mine to hit the record button on my cassette player, nobody ever howled about that!
Silliness at best.

a reply to: mOjOm
What would be the difference if I invite someone to view it at my house on HBO which I pay for????
this is not piracy because you own your hbo subscription - a single subscription - you don't make copies of the show or of your subscription and distribute it to the people in your block. you merely invite people over to watch tv with you.

a reply to: mOjOm

It's a good question, that i think there is no answer to, unless it was made illegal, which if right it should be, but it would be silly, so it is just what it is.

In reality you should only be able to sell the container and not the entertainment, but luckily it's not like that.

In all it's just a question about being fair to the makers, and at least pay for it the first time.

originally posted by: mOjOm
a reply to: SpaDe_

Or is something I pay for mine to do with as I please???

As long as I don't claim any of the material to be of my creation and give credit where credit is due and do not alter it from it's production form???

Also as long as I don't use that material to make a profit from it???

Why then should I not be allowed to enjoy it as I see fit, be it with friends, alone, once only or every single day all day long???

I personally think the term piracy has been over generalized. The original piracy term was used along with counterfeiting and was meant to ensnare the people who were making copies of original content and selling it for a profit. It slowly transformed from that into a whole other all encompassing word that included everything from sharing to copying because someone decided that they should dictate what you can do with a product once you purchase it.

a reply to: skyblueworld
I don't know if i's illegal or not
me neither since i don't own a playstation whatever but it could be or it couldn't be, i don't know the rules that sony has on that subject

It's the people who sell their downloads who are commiting a crime, and obviously the person in the cinema recording them. If you catch my drift
not really. uploading illegally is illegal and also downloading illegally is...well...illegal.

I took my son and his friend to watch the new x men the other day

It cost me the best part of £50 to watch a film??

BUt I could download that same film for free and watch it with my kid and spend about a 10er on some munchies

Now you see why people turn piracy....

a reply to: MeteoraXV

It is piracy because the subscription is meant for your personal viewing and it clearly states in your contract that it is not to be broadcast to an audience outside your households occupants. Having friends over to view it could very well be construed as broadcasting to an audience and would then be considered a form of piracy.