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I'm still not sure when this forum switched to thinking that infringing on IP (in this case, not even illegally) is immoral. If I didn't have better things to

I'm still not sure when this forum switched to thinking that infringing on IP (in this case, not even illegally) is immoral. If I didn't have better things to do I'd love to cross-check all these comments and see how many people previously said that copying bits is the natural order of things and should just be embraced.

billpatrianakos 15y ago
You totally stole my thunder! My thoughts exactly! There's such a disconnect when it comes to this and I can't understand why. When it's copyright and patents they need to be abolished but when an IP matter like this suddenly it's wrong. I hope they understand they can't have it both ways. Either both are okay or neither are.
- arbitrarywords 15y ago
  Or there's a shade of grey, where patents and IP are a useful idea, but the current implementation in certain areas (e.g. IT) are broken and need reform. Most people here don't seem to be purely black or white on this one.
  - billpatrianakos 15y ago
    I'm 100% with you here. I've been arguing that there's a whole lot of gray area when it comes to copyright, IP, patents etc. I've seen a lot of people say that most people aren't black or white on the issue but whenever I see a discussion about any of those things here the majority of people express a black or white view. I want to believe that people have nuanced opinions on this but I just don't see it.
deleted 15y ago
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mikeash 15y ago
From what I've seen, the message here and in many other places is a pretty consistent one that unauthorized copying for personal use is OK, and unauthorized copying for commercial gain is not. Have I missed something?
- earbitscom 15y ago
  Yes, you've missed the relatively consistent support of sites like Pirate Bay, which commercially benefit from the distribution of copyrighted material.
  - mikeash 15y ago
    After thinking about it more, I believe it may be more about attribution than commercial gain. If you violate copyright but don't misrepresent the thing you're copying, people are generally fine with it. If you rip off all the labels and put your own name on it instead, people are much less forgiving.

billpatrianakos 15y ago

You totally stole my thunder! My thoughts exactly! There's such a disconnect when it comes to this and I can't understand why. When it's copyright and patents they need to be abolished but when an IP matter like this suddenly it's wrong. I hope they understand they can't have it both ways. Either both are okay or neither are.

arbitrarywords 15y ago
Or there's a shade of grey, where patents and IP are a useful idea, but the current implementation in certain areas (e.g. IT) are broken and need reform. Most people here don't seem to be purely black or white on this one.
- billpatrianakos 15y ago
  I'm 100% with you here. I've been arguing that there's a whole lot of gray area when it comes to copyright, IP, patents etc. I've seen a lot of people say that most people aren't black or white on the issue but whenever I see a discussion about any of those things here the majority of people express a black or white view. I want to believe that people have nuanced opinions on this but I just don't see it.

deleted 15y ago

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mikeash 15y ago

From what I've seen, the message here and in many other places is a pretty consistent one that unauthorized copying for personal use is OK, and unauthorized copying for commercial gain is not. Have I missed something?

earbitscom 15y ago
Yes, you've missed the relatively consistent support of sites like Pirate Bay, which commercially benefit from the distribution of copyrighted material.
- mikeash 15y ago
  After thinking about it more, I believe it may be more about attribution than commercial gain. If you violate copyright but don't misrepresent the thing you're copying, people are generally fine with it. If you rip off all the labels and put your own name on it instead, people are much less forgiving.