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Poll: Where do you draw the line on illegal downloads?

What is "too" illegal to download? (assume all copyrighted)

  • One song

    Votes: 34 14.4%

  • One album

    Votes: 19 8.1%

  • One movie

    Votes: 11 4.7%

  • MS Office (or software title valued $100-500)

    Votes: 21 8.9%

  • Adobe CS3 (or software title valued over $500)

    Votes: 33 14.0%

  • Downloading anything is plain wrong

    Votes: 37 15.7%

  • I draw the line no where!

    Votes: 81 34.3%
  • Total voters
    236
Grimace

Grimace

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Feb 17, 2003
3,572
250
with Hamburglar.
Based tangentially on this thread, I open the question up for where YOU draw the line for "illegal downloading/stealing/sharing etc."

Just to be clear, all of the options are illegal. They descend in monetary value order from lowest to highest. Mark the threshold option that you personally (be honest) would not do, because you think it is "too" illegal.
 
1. One song?
2. One album?
3. MS Office?
4. Adobe CS3?
Click to expand...


All: Illegal, shouldn't be done.

BUT

Up to One Album: Won't hurt anyone if you desperately need it.

Interesting question, but this isn't really about fraud it's about piracy. Fraud is a much deeper problem involving deliberate lying, rather than utilizing a system that someone else has set up and happens to be illegal e.g. P2P networks.

I don't do it, but for one or two songs for personal use i'm not going to judge.

EDIT: I see topic choices now :)
 
Much Ado said:
All: Illegal, shouldn't be done.

BUT

Up to One Album: Won't hurt anyone if you desperately need it.
Click to expand...

interesting. Here's some food for thought - what "hurts" more?

1. Downloading a struggling indie artist song/album
2. Downloading Office from big, bad, rich Micro$oft.

just sayin! :D
 
You need one more option on the end I think (I would pirate any and everything).

Me personally, I like to get the boxes etc so I don't pirate anything these days. I have in the past though when I was more strapped for cash.
 
What about the option no of the above. There are people will just don't care at all.

I am more likely to download office than I am an album, it is not so much the value as it is about personal views.
 
About this illegal or not limit... Would you consider piracy downloading a TV documentary a few years old?
 
This is a very interesting topic and one that I think will have a huge variety of answers. From the "meh, I don't care what I get for free, if I can get it, I will" to the "Buying something in a sale is steeling" brigade.

Something that I think companies suffer from a lot is people using duplicate versions of the same software on multiple machines, even though they only have a one user license agreement. I use the single user version of OSX on two computers, stone me now!

Also in the UK at the start of DVDs and films there is the TV advert saying, "You wouldn't steel a handbag, you wouldn't steel a car, don't steel films." Well duh, of course I wouldn't steel a car. Would I borrow a friends DVD and make a copy, yeah sure. If I steel a car then it has a major impact on a persons life (usually), if I get a slightly less than authentic copy of a DVD which I don't own it does not have the same effect.

I am sure I will get blasted for these comments but to people who turn round and say how wrong I am, answer me this question:

"Have you ever broken the speed limit, even by 1mph?" What is worse, downloading a film off the internet, or driving over the speed limit with the potential to kill a small child?

For what it is worth, I have only ever once gone over the speed limit and that was during my driving test :rolleyes: and I don't care how many people I hold up, I will not go over the limit.

Put things into perspective people!
 
R.Youden said:
I am sure I will get blasted for these comments but to people who turn round and say how wrong I am.
Click to expand...

Yes, you probably will, they are like the people that come to your door and try to get you to change your religion because they think it's right thing.

Guess what everybody, just because that you say it is wrong doesn't mean they won't do it anymore.

And as he said, have you broken the speed limit? I know I have, and it was more than enough to get me arrested if I was caught. I know it was wrong but will I do it again? Most likely, yes.
 
I personally dont like to download anything illegal, but sometimes i have no choice. I buy all my music in cd format or via the itunes music store, i buy all my DVD and i have over 2000 of them. Sometimes i cant get the thing i want, HBO stuff spring to mind, if i want to watch it i have to download it. I do not live in the US and cant get it, i always buy the DVD later on even if i did not like it.

Grimace said:
2. Downloading Office from big, bad, rich Micro$oft.
Click to expand...

These are the comments i do not agree with, it does not matter what you think of MS if you use there product you have to pay for it.

For example i bought a copy of toast 8.0 and installed it on 4 Macs which i alone use. Some people (in companies that make software like toast) might think i am pirating but i am not.

I will draw the line at no pirating what so ever, if you can get something online by paying for it you should not download it at all. The only reason i accept someone to pirate is when he later buys the product like i do. A lot of people say that no one is getting hurt when you pirate 1 song but still it does not make it right.
 
R.Youden said:
"Have you ever broken the speed limit, even by 1mph?" What is worse, downloading a film off the internet, or driving over the speed limit with the potential to kill a small child?

For what it is worth, I have only ever once gone over the speed limit and that was during my driving test :rolleyes: and I don't care how many people I hold up, I will not go over the limit.

Put things into perspective people!
Click to expand...

Just because you don't break the speed limit (which is very honorable - I'm currently trying to discipline myself to do the same thing) doesn't mean it's okay to duplicate copyright material.

I don't mean this to be a personal attack, but the argument that "what I'm doing isn't wrong because other people do something worse" argument really bugs me.

P-Worm
 
One who is faithful over a little, will be rewarded with great things.
One who is faithless in a little thing, even what he has will be taken away.:cool:
 
My line is simple. I will not keep anything pirated permanently.

We've done the burn NetFlix/Blockbuster DVDs scheme in the past, my rules were simple. After we both (my wife and I) watch the movie, we destroy the disk. If we liked it enough to want it in our collection we'll buy it. Same with TV shows although I usually only Download ones I accidentally delete from the DVR, or something that might air 3-6 months ahead of the states.

I always set our DVR to record the US airings just in case they are gathering stats on what I/we watch.
 
Since I am being penalized with the blank media levy I might as well make use of it.

i go through about 100 Cd's and 250 DVD's a month of data back up. Yet I still have to pay the stupid fee.
So at one point i said fine treat me like a criminal and I will become one.
Music, movies, apps etc. I will download. If I like them I will 99% of the time go out and buy them.
Some stuff though is so old that its not available on dvd/cd. or was never put out in common available format ie live DJ sets.
No line drawn.
 
I draw the line at albums- something about downloading apps doesn't seems much worse.
Some songs just aren't for sale- Ex. the live version of President by Wyclef Jean on Chapelle's Show, if iTunes sold it, i would buy it, but they don't :(

On a related topic, something i have been wondering- a question of ethics
If you buy a song on iTunes with DRM protection, one that doesn't have option of iTunes Plus, does that warrant downloading the same song for use on devices that don't accept protected AAC files, assuming you don't share it?
 
I will accept the rules that you feel necessary to your freedom. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.
 
Without the internet, Limewire, and all that other junk, how many of the 8 people that draw the line at Adobe apps, would actually go into a store a steal this stuff anyway?

How many of you that voted, would actually go into a store and steal those items?

I draw the line at one album. I wouldn't download an entire album, but maybe one or two songs that you can't buy anywhere.
 
zioxide said:
where's the option for no line?
Click to expand...

I was about to ask the same question.

I think it's absurd the way that downloaders are characterized by people who think it is wrong. I download a lot of music, but I also buy a lot of music. I download movies (though most of the movies I download are hard to find or not in print), but I also buy a lot of movies.

I downloaded MS office. No way I'm paying hundreds of dollars for that. No apologies either.

I can also see why people download. The RIAA is a bloodsucking organization that deserves nothing. Maybe if the artists were to actually profit from their material, people would start buying albums. (Just so people know, I usually don't listen/download RIAA music, so I'm not part of that group, but I understand why people do it).
 
it5five said:
I can also see why people download. The RIAA is a bloodsucking organization that deserves nothing. Maybe if the artists were to actually profit from their material, people would start buying albums. (Just so people know, I usually don't listen/download RIAA music, so I'm not part of that group, but I understand why people do it).
Click to expand...

Exactly. People say "you shouldn't download because you're not supporting the artist." That's crap. The artists get jack **** from CD sales. If you buy a CD for $14 bucks, 20 cents goes to the manufacture of that CD, maybe 80 cents to $1 to the artist, and the rest to the record label/RIAA. I refuse to spend money on **** just to pad the pockets of these rich greedy ****s who run the RIAA. **** them.

If you want to support an artist, go to a show. That's how artists earn almost all of their money.
 
Honestly I was the Napster generation and I went all out downloading music, but being that radio was still dominant in the market(some what). I did not really get music from the US but instead found the world of music outside of USA. Rock, indie and other genres that could not be found in local radio. It open the world to me, thats my belief why bands do not make money(big name) as before because the joe schmo gig gets good amount of fans than Justin Timberlake at cheaper price.

The problem with that is companies do not show the value of importance of their products. I mean software companies market towards the corporations but nothing towards the students market. Hence why they do not care downloading their software.
 
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