4 ms·

I pirate tv shows. As couple of them. Many people come to bother me on that. But I must say: The alternative is just not seeing them at all it is depriving my

by speeder 14y ago

I pirate tv shows. As couple of them. Many people come to bother me on that. But I must say: The alternative is just not seeing them at all it is depriving myself of culture. And not by choice, it just happen that where I live those shows are not available at all even with hackery, and I doubt they will ever be, since I like sci-fi stuff, and here what sells is oversexual soapoperas. Do like Steam! I had about 600 pirated games here, after they launched I bought the most liked ones on Steam ( and later gog.com that I prefer) and stopped pirating games. You want less piracy? Make a effort to take your fans money, and they will happily hand it to you.

hnriot 14y ago
I don't think you not seeing game of thrones is really depriving you of culture! If you want culture, go read a book. If you want titiilating blondes with dragons in skimpy outfits, then get an HBO subscription..
eddieroger 14y ago
You have another option, and it's one that a majority of viewers do - pay for the service you want to use. Piracy is the option you've chosen. HBO has chosen how they want to take your money, and you don't want to give it to them on their terms. Unfortunately for you, it's their product to sell on their terms. And, following the Steam example, if you have cable, HBO regularly has free weekends where they will show blocks of their programming. This is the try-before-you-buy. Again, it's yours not to buy, but they have decided how they want to make their product available.
- davmre 14y ago
  Many people don't have the option to pay for HBO, either because they live in a country where it's not available, or because they don't have cable TV and it's not reasonable or affordable (for many people) to pay $60+/mo to Comcast just to have the privilege of then paying another $15+/mo for HBO. So yes, Game of Thrones is HBO's product to sell how they want. And if they choose not to make it available in some countries, or to people without cable TV, that's their choice. But they shouldn't be offended or surprised when the people they refuse to sell to end up finding other ways to watch their content. To his credit, David Petrarca seems to recognize that -- given that someone can't buy your content -- it's still better for everyone involved if they pirate it, discuss it with friends, and contribute to its mindshare. The alternative is that they ignore it completely, in which case HBO gets no money and no buzz.
  - res0nat0r 14y ago
    Is Ferrari "refusing to sell" to me since I can't afford to pay $150k for a car?
    - davmre 14y ago
      No. But if Ferrari a) had no dealerships in your country, and provided no legal way for you to import, and/or b) decided they would only sell their $150k cars to owners of $1M houses, then (assuming you don't own a $1M house) they'd be refusing to sell to you. And in that circumstance, if there existed some way for you to acquire a free Ferrari in a way that didn't involve taking value away from anyone else, but in fact helped advertise the Ferrari name, then both you and Ferrari would benefit from your doing so. Of course, this is an absolutely ridiculous metaphor because physical property and intellectual property are very different things. When I steal physical X, the owner doesn't have X anymore. When I pirate intellectual X, the owner still has X. There are plenty of reasonable arguments in favor of IP protection and against piracy -- and those arguments can be and have been made on HN -- but given how well-established that basic distinction is, whenever you equate piracy with stealing physical objects you're essentially giving up any pretense of discussing these issues in good faith.
      - res0nat0r 14y ago
        That's a lot of convoluted reasoning to try and justify that you are not paying for something when you know you should be. Since you can't legally pay for it, you should go without.
        deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
OGinparadise 14y ago
"The alternative is just not seeing them at all it is depriving myself of culture.." Wow, I have pirated a few myself but I know what I did. HBO, Viacom or Dr Dre don't have to contribute to your cultur-isation. (is that a word?) Otherwise Bill Gates might owe me a nice car and $10k/monthly so I can drive around to get to know USA. Of course if he doesn't give it to me, I'll take it. I am not depriving myself of culture and pleasure simply because Bill Gates says "it's my money and I do with it, what I want"
- njs12345 14y ago
  The difference being of course that if Bill Gates gives you a nice car he's lost out on something..
  - OGinparadise 14y ago
    First thing: it's theirs, they paid for the actors, director, sandwiches for the crew, script, costumes and all. They can charge me and you $1 million a disk or give it for free. Second thing: I paid once for a season of Sopranos, over $80. I have no reason to save up to get the other seasons if they're sitting on my hardrive in blue-ray quality. So they still lose something once all is tallied
    - mistercow 14y ago
      >First thing: it's theirs, they paid for the actors, director, sandwiches for the crew, script, costumes and all. They can charge me and you $1 million a disk or give it for free. Totally irrelevant. The question is whether they lose something from piracy, not the larger question of whether piracy is wrong. It's important to stay focused. >Second thing: I paid once for a season of Sopranos, over $80. I have no reason to save up to get the other seasons if they're sitting on my hardrive in blue-ray quality. So they still lose something once all is tallied First thing: it's been shown that music pirates spend more on music than non pirates. Clearly, having something for free doesn't prevent people from paying for it. People like having stuff in their collection, they like extra features, and they like supporting the creators of quality stuff if they can afford it. They also like being able to watch something when it comes out rather than waiting for it to come out on a box set. Second thing: The second season box set of GoT costs $40. Most people are simply never going to pay that price, regardless of whether piracy is an option; in that case, they simply wouldn't ever see it. If those people torrent it, there's no sale opportunity lost.

by speeder 14y ago

hnriot 14y ago

I don't think you not seeing game of thrones is really depriving you of culture! If you want culture, go read a book. If you want titiilating blondes with dragons in skimpy outfits, then get an HBO subscription..

eddieroger 14y ago

You have another option, and it's one that a majority of viewers do - pay for the service you want to use. Piracy is the option you've chosen. HBO has chosen how they want to take your money, and you don't want to give it to them on their terms. Unfortunately for you, it's their product to sell on their terms. And, following the Steam example, if you have cable, HBO regularly has free weekends where they will show blocks of their programming. This is the try-before-you-buy. Again, it's yours not to buy, but they have decided how they want to make their product available.

davmre 14y ago
Many people don't have the option to pay for HBO, either because they live in a country where it's not available, or because they don't have cable TV and it's not reasonable or affordable (for many people) to pay $60+/mo to Comcast just to have the privilege of then paying another $15+/mo for HBO. So yes, Game of Thrones is HBO's product to sell how they want. And if they choose not to make it available in some countries, or to people without cable TV, that's their choice. But they shouldn't be offended or surprised when the people they refuse to sell to end up finding other ways to watch their content. To his credit, David Petrarca seems to recognize that -- given that someone can't buy your content -- it's still better for everyone involved if they pirate it, discuss it with friends, and contribute to its mindshare. The alternative is that they ignore it completely, in which case HBO gets no money and no buzz.
- res0nat0r 14y ago
  Is Ferrari "refusing to sell" to me since I can't afford to pay $150k for a car?
  - davmre 14y ago
    No. But if Ferrari a) had no dealerships in your country, and provided no legal way for you to import, and/or b) decided they would only sell their $150k cars to owners of $1M houses, then (assuming you don't own a $1M house) they'd be refusing to sell to you. And in that circumstance, if there existed some way for you to acquire a free Ferrari in a way that didn't involve taking value away from anyone else, but in fact helped advertise the Ferrari name, then both you and Ferrari would benefit from your doing so. Of course, this is an absolutely ridiculous metaphor because physical property and intellectual property are very different things. When I steal physical X, the owner doesn't have X anymore. When I pirate intellectual X, the owner still has X. There are plenty of reasonable arguments in favor of IP protection and against piracy -- and those arguments can be and have been made on HN -- but given how well-established that basic distinction is, whenever you equate piracy with stealing physical objects you're essentially giving up any pretense of discussing these issues in good faith.
    - res0nat0r 14y ago
      That's a lot of convoluted reasoning to try and justify that you are not paying for something when you know you should be. Since you can't legally pay for it, you should go without.
      - deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]

OGinparadise 14y ago

"The alternative is just not seeing them at all it is depriving myself of culture.." Wow, I have pirated a few myself but I know what I did. HBO, Viacom or Dr Dre don't have to contribute to your cultur-isation. (is that a word?) Otherwise Bill Gates might owe me a nice car and $10k/monthly so I can drive around to get to know USA. Of course if he doesn't give it to me, I'll take it. I am not depriving myself of culture and pleasure simply because Bill Gates says "it's my money and I do with it, what I want"

njs12345 14y ago
The difference being of course that if Bill Gates gives you a nice car he's lost out on something..
- OGinparadise 14y ago
  First thing: it's theirs, they paid for the actors, director, sandwiches for the crew, script, costumes and all. They can charge me and you $1 million a disk or give it for free. Second thing: I paid once for a season of Sopranos, over $80. I have no reason to save up to get the other seasons if they're sitting on my hardrive in blue-ray quality. So they still lose something once all is tallied
  - mistercow 14y ago
    >First thing: it's theirs, they paid for the actors, director, sandwiches for the crew, script, costumes and all. They can charge me and you $1 million a disk or give it for free. Totally irrelevant. The question is whether they lose something from piracy, not the larger question of whether piracy is wrong. It's important to stay focused. >Second thing: I paid once for a season of Sopranos, over $80. I have no reason to save up to get the other seasons if they're sitting on my hardrive in blue-ray quality. So they still lose something once all is tallied First thing: it's been shown that music pirates spend more on music than non pirates. Clearly, having something for free doesn't prevent people from paying for it. People like having stuff in their collection, they like extra features, and they like supporting the creators of quality stuff if they can afford it. They also like being able to watch something when it comes out rather than waiting for it to come out on a box set. Second thing: The second season box set of GoT costs $40. Most people are simply never going to pay that price, regardless of whether piracy is an option; in that case, they simply wouldn't ever see it. If those people torrent it, there's no sale opportunity lost.