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I understand that in one sense, digital products can be infinitely reproduced, so it's not like someone is deprived of the product when it's pirated. What I can

by nkrisc 5y ago

I understand that in one sense, digital products can be infinitely reproduced, so it's not like someone is deprived of the product when it's pirated. What I can't reconcile is the entitlement that one deserves to be able to view a specific movie or TV show. I've often heard the argument that there's no harm done, because the pirate wouldn't pay to watch it anyway. Yet the only reason the show is there to pirate is because others are willing to pay for the privilege of viewing it. If everyone took the "pirate" attitude, then there simply wouldn't be any shows to pirate. Now in reality that seems unlikely to actually transpire, so there likely is no harm done. But why does the pirate deserve to watch for free? We're not talking about access to food or clean water. If I had no legal way to obtain food, I'd steal it in a heartbeat. If I can't find a legal way to watch the latest uninspired Star Wars spin-off, I'm just not going to watch it and do something else. I'm all for civil disobedience when warranted, but I have a hard time justifying it for watching a TV show.

howinteresting 5y ago
Culture is as much part of the human experience as food is. We should aspire towards the goal that all humans deserve to have access to our collective cultural output.
prohobo 5y ago
They'd probably stop pirating if it caused film culture to collapse; whereas so far, the only agents currently destroying film culture are production/licensing companies like Disney. It's a social activity after all, and social currencies extend beyond money; ie. reputation, access and fairness. I'm not entirely well-versed in this, but from what I understand pirate money comes downstream from these social criteria. This is why certain platforms like Steam and Netflix work (or used to, in Netflix's case, while they still had a good reputation). Pirates have proven to be more than willing to pay for content when they consider it appropriate to do so (money going directly to the creator, superior access, etc.)
- nkrisc 5y ago
  > They'd probably stop pirating if it caused film culture to collapse; I doubt it. How many animals have been hunted to extinction even though the hunters’ livelihood depended upon those animals? The stakes are far lower here.

by nkrisc 5y ago

howinteresting 5y ago

Culture is as much part of the human experience as food is. We should aspire towards the goal that all humans deserve to have access to our collective cultural output.

prohobo 5y ago

They'd probably stop pirating if it caused film culture to collapse; whereas so far, the only agents currently destroying film culture are production/licensing companies like Disney. It's a social activity after all, and social currencies extend beyond money; ie. reputation, access and fairness. I'm not entirely well-versed in this, but from what I understand pirate money comes downstream from these social criteria. This is why certain platforms like Steam and Netflix work (or used to, in Netflix's case, while they still had a good reputation). Pirates have proven to be more than willing to pay for content when they consider it appropriate to do so (money going directly to the creator, superior access, etc.)

nkrisc 5y ago
> They'd probably stop pirating if it caused film culture to collapse; I doubt it. How many animals have been hunted to extinction even though the hunters’ livelihood depended upon those animals? The stakes are far lower here.