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On a scale from 1 to 10, how bad of a pirate are you?

  • 1

    Votes: 15 14.9%
  • 2

    Votes: 13 12.9%
  • 3

    Votes: 5 5.0%
  • 4

    Votes: 9 8.9%
  • 5

    Votes: 13 12.9%
  • 6

    Votes: 9 8.9%
  • 7

    Votes: 15 14.9%
  • 8

    Votes: 8 7.9%
  • 9

    Votes: 2 2.0%
  • 10

    Votes: 12 11.9%

  • Total voters
    101
I don't pirate, taking something that I don't have a right to is stealing. Not matter how much people try justify their actions. Stealing is stealing.
This. HOWEVER... I do occasionally launch uTorrent or Transmittion for something I wish to try/listen/watch before I buy it, if it is nowhere else.

If I don't like it, it generally gets deleted.
 
I sometimes yell "YARRRRRR!", but that's about it.
But you also show your "parrot" to people.

I will stream artists I might be interested in and if I like the album I will buy it. I don't actually download anything though.
 
Then I'm a 10. By "10", I mean I'm a 2.



Ok ok, I'm a 7. I download music all the time, but I purchase the albums I really like/want. Despite being a 7 on your scale, I don't really feel bad about it.

Is it illegal to download music the way I do?? Yes.
Does illegal downloading lead me to purchase more music than I would have if I hadn't pirated first and put the albums on my iPhone to "try"? Actually, yes.

I do commit a crime when I download illegally, but realistlcally, the music industry wins when I download illegally. It's the music equivalent of a "test-drive", and trust me, they're far more likely to sell me an album if I'm allowed a test-drive. I purchase around 30 albums per year. There are people out there who purchase far more albums than me, but I still purchase far more music than anybody else I know. :eek: I also pirate more music than anybody I know....maybe 5-10 albums per month.



With regards to software, I'm a 2. I purchase software. I use a pirated version of Office and Adobe Lightroom, but I have paid for all my other software.

I'm pretty much the same. If a new album comes from a band I like, I will buy it, without listening to it first. However, if I discover a new band, I most likely download their discography illegally. I can't justify spending hundreds on the band's discography when I've only heard few songs from Youtube but if I like them and they release a new album, that I will buy. I've made a decision that I won't buy old albums, only new ones. And if I buy an album, it must be in physical format, no iTunes crap or anything like that. I also go to gigs a lot (up to 30 a year) and those I have to and am very willing to pay for. Without downloading the music first, I most likely wouldn't go to their gig either.

Movies and TV shows are something that I download as well. There is absolutely no Internet-based service in here that would provide rentable HD content, not even iTunes. My other options are to watch TV with awful quality and ancient offerings (there never comes anything nice when you turn it on) or go and rent it. Movies I go and rent sometimes in Blu-Ray but to be honest, I'm too lazy to do that after Saturday night's dinner for example. If I'm coming from somewhere, then it's a whole new case. TV shows I mainly watch from the TV but I have torrented some older seasons that are not broadcasted anymore.

If we had a service like Netflix or iTunes in here, then I wouldn't even consider torrents. I would be more than happy to pay for such service. Since there is none, I use torrents. I have tried several Internet services that offer rentals and stuff but so far I have not been pleased with any. Usually they don't offer anything good, just old and unknown movies and of course, SD quality.

Call me unethical but come here and see how it feels to live without Netflix, iTunes, 24-hour rental shops etc. I would take those over torrenting any day.
 
Hm, let me think...
I do not own much pirated stuff. A few mp3s here and there; some movies i am interested in but too sceptic to buy just yet (on a side-note: if the movie is awesome i mostly end up buying it); Software like Photoshop or Office for Mac, not too much though;
99% of my Games are legally purchased...and i have a lot...
Btw.: Apple Software is always 100% legal on my machine.

YARRRRR!
 
I don't pirate, taking something that I don't have a right to is stealing. Not matter how much people try justify their actions. Stealing is stealing.

Same here. In fact I use streaming music services for my music, and rarely watch any TV/films. I mostly have my podcasts to keep me going; I find them just as good as what I find on TV.
 
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I'm probably a 9. I honesty don't remember the last time I legally bought music. Out of the 5,600 songs in my iTunes library I probably bought about 200 of them.

I make a copy of every movie I get through Netflix. I feel as if the damn studios make enough already and I already pay $25 a month for Netflix, so screw the law.

As for software I pirate that too. The only software I buy legally are operating systems and antivirus for my windows machines.

I honestly couldn't care less if people think I'm a bad person for pirating stuff. My personal opinion regarding those people are get off your damn pedestal and as my grandma always says "shove it where the sun doesn't shine."

-Don

People like you are the reason we have to deal with annoying DRM and security measures in all the software we buy.

I know I used to be a lot worse but as I got older I became more legal so to speak. Like I said my pirating now is mostly limited to things where I need a PDF editor with out all the advance stuff. If I could find a good basic one for like 10 bucks i would buy it in a heart beat.
 
So for people who pirate would they also go into a record store, steal 20 albums and run out and complain if they got arrested?
 
As someone who makes their living creating Intellectual Property, and likes being paid for it, I am very careful to return the favour to the authors of movies, music, software that I use.

I am constantly amazed by the number of people who get p*ssed off at users who have stolen their work, but who have in turn stolen other people's work. Even to the point of using a stolen copy of some software to create the photo that they are now complaining has been "stolen".

Hypocrisy never fails to amuse me.
 
So for people who pirate would they also go into a record store, steal 20 albums and run out and complain if they got arrested?

Piracy: "the unauthorized use or reproduction of another's work"

Steal: "take (another person's property) without permission or legal right and without intending to return it"

You can keep arguing that they are the same but the definitions of those words are not the same. There is a reason why you don't call a theft as a robbery. They may be related but are still not the same.

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I'm not saying it's right but if you look at the dictionary, steal is not the word to describe it. There is a reason why it's called piracy and not stealing.
 
I'd like to hear from those in this thread that have little or no problems with piracy how they would feel about taking a significant pay cut. Or having thousands of individuals siphoning money out of their bank accounts just because they can. Would you be okay with that?

I'll bite. When it comes to movies and TV shows I want to put them on my iPad, my Macs, TVs, and watch them anywhere (living room, bedroom, office). I can't do that with available commercial solutions. I would pay $20/movie for a 1080p version with no DRM that I could play on anything I want to and won't call me a thief when I've paid for the movie, but I'm not given that option. Not to mention, I don't want to go to the movie theater and deal with inconsiderate moviegoers, and I don't want to wait until the Blu ray comes out, I have a home theater with 125" of 1080p goodness and 7.1 surround sound, so I'd like to watch them on my terms. Selfish? Sure. But that's how I like to consume my media.
 
People like you are the reason we have to deal with annoying DRM and security measures in all the software we buy.

People like him get around all that, you have to deal with annoying DRM and security measures because companies don't trust their customers and fail to realize that DRM and security measures don't actually decrease piracy.
 
I'll bite. When it comes to movies and TV shows I want to put them on my iPad, my Macs, TVs, and watch them anywhere (living room, bedroom, office). I can't do that with available commercial solutions. I would pay $20/movie for a 1080p version with no DRM that I could play on anything I want to and won't call me a thief when I've paid for the movie, but I'm not given that option. Not to mention, I don't want to go to the movie theater and deal with inconsiderate moviegoers, and I don't want to wait until the Blu ray comes out, I have a home theater with 125" of 1080p goodness and 7.1 surround sound, so I'd like to watch them on my terms. Selfish? Sure. But that's how I like to consume my media.

You're not answering the question though.
 
You're not answering the question though.

Jumped the gun. I actually work in production and post-production (Movies/Television) as a cameraman/editor. It's a lot less dramatic than people make it out to be. It actually doesn't affect day-to-day pay of those actually making the movies or television based on my paychecks. It may affect the big companies bottom line by a bit, but for those of us creating the media, it has little to no impact. The whole thing is blown way out of proportion. That's my view from the inside anyway.

EDIT: Oh, and my other editors and shooters are constantly trading not only stuff they've downloaded, but stuff they've worked on...just sayin'.
 
Jumped the gun. I actually work in production and post-production (Movies/Television) as a cameraman/editor. It's a lot less dramatic than people make it out to be. It actually doesn't affect day-to-day pay of those actually making the movies or television based on my paychecks. It may affect the big companies bottom line by a bit, but for those of us creating the media, it has little to no impact. The whole thing is blown way out of proportion. That's my view from the inside anyway.

EDIT: Oh, and my other editors and shooters are constantly trading not only stuff they've downloaded, but stuff they've worked on...just sayin'.

Sounds awesome for the TV/film industry, there's a lot of money in there. Same with music, bands get a fortune for playing live (I know my old band got their major earnings from big gigs).
For software, especially small companies, it's a different world. Many of my friends who run small software houses had to shut down or sell off their IPs because it's a lot more hand-to-mouth (lots of personal investments, lack of big business backing). Piracy really impacts those guys.
Those people who pirate indie games and stuff from small software houses. They're the absolute worst kind of human.
 
I'd like to hear from those in this thread that have little or no problems with piracy how they would feel about taking a significant pay cut. Or having thousands of individuals siphoning money out of their bank accounts just because they can. Would you be okay with that?

Well if someone took money or something from me, I'd be losing something. If I download a musician's album, they lose nothing. They don't even lose a sale, because I wouldn't have bought it.

If I pirate it and like it, they get a sale. If I pirate and don't like it, they get nothing, but they lost nothing. In fact, if I like it, I may buy all of that artist's subsequent releases in the future. Examples would be Lupe's new album, and Bill Withers Grestest Hits. I purchased both on the weekend. And I didn't need to pre-pirate the album before purchasing, as I already know I like them.

I suppose sales lost due to piracy are purchases that people may later regret -- those people who buy an album, hear it, but don't like it. Piracy reduces those sales.



Having said all that, I really hate people who ONLY pirate and never purchase anything. Too many of these people exist. If you say you're a fan of a particular musician, then you support that artist by paying money for their work. It's very unfair if you don't. That goes for both software, and music. :rolleyes: Hypocritical? Perhaps.
 
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People like him get around all that, you have to deal with annoying DRM and security measures because companies don't trust their customers and fail to realize that DRM and security measures don't actually decrease piracy.

And yet in his own post you can see proof that the DRM is working. He already stated he buys is Windows OS.
Safe to say this is because of how MS can and will lock down the OS if it is pirated and the activation requirements. Pirate OS get block from updating and so on and I believe some other lockdowns as well. All thanks to people like him.

He pays for AV software yet again those companies lock it down. The DRM does reduce piracy by making it more difficult and risky to crack. Adobe has made there stuff harder to crack and requires messing around in a lot lower area of you system to crack. Blocks updates as well.
That is just some examples. The amount of work required is greatly increased and in the future I could see companies really going after people for money.
 
Jumped the gun. I actually work in production and post-production (Movies/Television) as a cameraman/editor. It's a lot less dramatic than people make it out to be. It actually doesn't affect day-to-day pay of those actually making the movies or television based on my paychecks. It may affect the big companies bottom line by a bit, but for those of us creating the media, it has little to no impact. The whole thing is blown way out of proportion. That's my view from the inside anyway.

EDIT: Oh, and my other editors and shooters are constantly trading not only stuff they've downloaded, but stuff they've worked on...just sayin'.

Yes, I've seen you post about your work as an editor.
As it happens I have about a decade and a half worth of experience in post production myself (Visual Effects Artist here). I can agree with your observations (my colleagues do pirate also). I'll also agree that jobs like yours or mine are perhaps more sheltered from piracy than say a lone developer writing iApps. But there is always a cost, one that eventually trickles downhill to grunts like you and me, make no mistake. (Ask yourself how high your salary could have been. Can you be absolutely sure your annual pay increases have not been influenced negatively by cost cutting to make up for loss of revenue, DRM/copy protection development costs, etc.?)

Abstract: I have little problems with genuine try before you buy. It does draw in new buyers. The question is wether the presence of piracy balances in favour of those honest enough to go out and buy after trying or those just looking to freeload. I suspect the scale tips vastly to the latter group. In which case the content creator is most definitely losing income.
 
Piracy is not justified, in my opinion.
No ifs, ands, or buts.

The Robin Hood argument around here is common. I've heard it. No it's not justified.
 
Give me full control of the product I bought, and not bundle it forcing me to buy stuff I don't want to get the stuff I do, and I will have no need for piracy.
 
Piracy: "the unauthorized use or reproduction of another's work"

Steal: "take (another person's property) without permission or legal right and without intending to return it"

You can keep arguing that they are the same but the definitions of those words are not the same. There is a reason why you don't call a theft as a robbery. They may be related but are still not the same.

Regardless of what we want to call it, if I take a material item that someone is selling for $10 without paying for it, and I copy a digital item that someone is selling for $10 without paying for it, I have cheated someone out of $10 in both instances.

The fact that one is a physical item and one is zeros and ones may mean we use different words to describe unlawfully taking or using them - but it does not mean one is more/less justifiable than the other.
 
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