respost as this forum is better suited than General Games, since piracy extends beyond games.
Also note: Do not admit to doing piracy, regardless of whether or not you do it. This will simply get you modded. Feel free to post what you feel about the issue, but not that you have partaken in Piracy, assuming you have.
I know that piracy.. or Intellectual Property Theft as it's known these days, is something that gets discussed fairly often. But I've seen it toned down these last few months, and it's not something I think should fade away. Complacency on matters like this leads the way to political manipulation of laws and I don't think that should happen.
I'll start by making my opinion clear on the matter: I don't pirate. However, I'm against many many laws that are in favor of defending IP theft, for a variety of reasons. The most important of which is internet management - I do not believe any ISP should have the power to shut down internet, throttle it, or even look at it. I don't care how illegal what someone is doing is, no ISP should have that right. The reasons are obvious. Beyond simply privacy, and it assuming I'm a criminal, it paves the way for bigger issues. I'm going to use one that's currently in effect. I use Bell Sympatico, and they have an online video service. So does rival Internet/TV provider Rogers. Bell Sympatico currently throttles Roger's video service - and many others - but not their own.
To me, this is disgusting to the biggest degree. Now, I don't want to turn this into a net neutrality debate, though obviously they're interconnected. But rather I'm going to bring up a few questions I'd like to get your opinions on, because they're areas where I personally have conflicting thoughts.
The first, I'll start with a non-game DVD situation. I recently had the chance to view season 1 of the show 24. I enjoyed it immensly, and coincidentally seasons 1-5 were on sale for 20$. I picked them all up.
Over a month later, I got to 24. Disk 2 of it did not work, at all. As it was 30 days after purchase, and the case was open. I could not get a refund. Do you think it would be right or wrong for me to download those 4 episodes (Note, the point is mute as I borrowed it from a friend, but assume for a moment I could not do that and the choice was to either purchase it again, or download illegally)? If you assume it's right even if technically illegal, would you also think it was okay if I downloaded high definition versions of the show, even though I did not purchase it in HD?
Now, another example. Say I purchased a video game, and it was released online early. Would it be okay for me to download the game and play it - when I legally bought it - early? Does it not seem fair that someone who paid should be able to play as soon as possible, especially considering that people who DON'T pay are the ones who get to play early? If you think it's wrong, what would you think about downloading the files but not playing until release, so you could avoid a lengthy download / visit to the store in the future?
How about the music genre. When you buy a game like Guitar Hero, part of the money is going to the licensing to listen to the songs in the game. You are paying for the songs. Does that make it okay or wrong, in your eyes, to download them to your computer?
Another thing that bothers me about this is that there is a fee when you buy blank DVD/CDs that goes to pay various music and video industries, due to how they can be used for piracy. You ARE paying for a crime, regardless of whether or not you committed. this is another thing that sickens me. Morally, I don't feel bad at all when people download music illegally, because of this. I am paying them, and I am being treated as a criminal. Why should I feel bad about downloading songs, then, since I *am* paying for them? Note that I don't do this, anyway, but this is the point of my thread. The shades of gray and conflicting thoughts.
Anyway, what do you guys think? Let me know.
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