5 ms·

Well, it IS up to me. Thanks to piracy, I have the choice to not have to bend in front of Comcast to watch TV shows.

by malka 12y ago

k-mcgrady 12y ago
And I have the choice to walk into a store, lift something, and leave without paying. I could probably do it without any consequences. But it's morally wrong so I chose not to do it. Your choice to not pay for things has always been there. It's just now easy to do it without getting caught and it's easier than ever to ignore or excuse (it's not available on my terms/it's a copy/it's not stealing) the moral consequences.
- kuschku 12y ago
  Your analogy is wrong. It’s more like: Going into a bookstore, taking the encyclopedia britannica, reading the article about Elephants and the leaving again, without buying the encyclopedia. Overall the store lost no sale. You wouldn’t have bought it otherwise anyway (For example as I had the choice between paying 20$/month just for Game of Thrones, or not watching it at all, I decided to just ignore that boring show). It might even have made a sale, because as you were already there, you might have bought something else (Pirates tend to spend the most money on additional stuff like cinema tickets or merchandise). And the store didn’t even lose anything, as you didn’t take something from them that they had, you actually didn’t even cost them any money.
  - res0nat0r 12y ago
    I do get a laugh at of all of the mental gymnastics that have sprung up when people try to justify piracy these days. Everyone would respect you much more if you just said you are just downloading content since it is free and virtually risk free.
    - k-mcgrady 12y ago
      Exactly my point and the reason I get into these arguments. Most of us at some point have pirated something. I don't understand why some people feel the need to twist words and invent causes to justify it.
    - k-mcgrady 12y ago
      Exactly my point and the reason I get into these arguments. Most of us at some point have pirated something. I don't understand why some people feel the need to twist words and invent causes to justify it.
- imanaccount247 12y ago
  Your beliefs are not universal moral truths. I do not ignore or excuse the moral consequences of piracy. There are no moral consequences of piracy. I do not belief in imaginary ownership of data. I believe in personal freedom, so my moral obligation is to not harm others. Choosing not to give someone money is not harming them. Taking something away from them is. Piracy is morally acceptable, theft is not. You are welcome to disagree and have your own morals, but you can't pretend everyone else is obligated to live under your personal moral code.
  - res0nat0r 12y ago
    It would take a lot less words if you just said you can download games/tv shows/music for free, and since you can get away with it with almost no chance of getting in trouble, you do. I'm sure you would have a different attitude if your boss decided to randomly withhold part of your income whenever he wanted because he believes there are no moral consequences of doing so.
    - imanaccount247 12y ago
      Saying "I don't want to listen" is not a useful contribution to the discussion. If I had a boss, it would be wrong for him or her to withhold income from me because we agreed that we would exchange my labor for his or her money. That is nothing like copying data. I find it interesting how people who push "intellectual property rights" so often do so by poor analogies. If you feel a moral obligation to pay people for copying data, then go right ahead. Pretending everyone else is also morally obligated to do so because "I can't tell you why so here's a terrible analogy" is not compelling.
      - res0nat0r 12y ago
        Your moral high ground arguments honestly carry zero weight with me. I couldn't care less about some nonsense about your agreeing or not agreeing to some kind of contract. Person A states that you should pay X for their product. You don't. There isn't any other argument other than you are just cheap and only do it because you can get away with it. If the same happened to you and affected your income you would be on here whining about how terrible the situation is. Again everyone would respect you much more if you just said: yeah I'm cheap and can take content for free, so I do.

Well, it IS up to me. Thanks to piracy, I have the choice to not have to bend in front of Comcast to watch TV shows.

by malka 12y ago

Well, it IS up to me. Thanks to piracy, I have the choice to not have to bend in front of Comcast to watch TV shows.

And I have the choice to walk into a store, lift something, and leave without paying. I could probably do it without any consequences. But it's morally wrong so I chose not to do it. Your choice to not pay for things has always been there. It's just now easy to do it without getting caught and it's easier than ever to ignore or excuse (it's not available on my terms/it's a copy/it's not stealing) the moral consequences.

kuschku 12y ago
Your analogy is wrong. It’s more like: Going into a bookstore, taking the encyclopedia britannica, reading the article about Elephants and the leaving again, without buying the encyclopedia. Overall the store lost no sale. You wouldn’t have bought it otherwise anyway (For example as I had the choice between paying 20$/month just for Game of Thrones, or not watching it at all, I decided to just ignore that boring show). It might even have made a sale, because as you were already there, you might have bought something else (Pirates tend to spend the most money on additional stuff like cinema tickets or merchandise). And the store didn’t even lose anything, as you didn’t take something from them that they had, you actually didn’t even cost them any money.
- res0nat0r 12y ago
  I do get a laugh at of all of the mental gymnastics that have sprung up when people try to justify piracy these days. Everyone would respect you much more if you just said you are just downloading content since it is free and virtually risk free.
  - k-mcgrady 12y ago
    Exactly my point and the reason I get into these arguments. Most of us at some point have pirated something. I don't understand why some people feel the need to twist words and invent causes to justify it.
  - k-mcgrady 12y ago
    Exactly my point and the reason I get into these arguments. Most of us at some point have pirated something. I don't understand why some people feel the need to twist words and invent causes to justify it.
imanaccount247 12y ago
Your beliefs are not universal moral truths. I do not ignore or excuse the moral consequences of piracy. There are no moral consequences of piracy. I do not belief in imaginary ownership of data. I believe in personal freedom, so my moral obligation is to not harm others. Choosing not to give someone money is not harming them. Taking something away from them is. Piracy is morally acceptable, theft is not. You are welcome to disagree and have your own morals, but you can't pretend everyone else is obligated to live under your personal moral code.
- res0nat0r 12y ago
  It would take a lot less words if you just said you can download games/tv shows/music for free, and since you can get away with it with almost no chance of getting in trouble, you do. I'm sure you would have a different attitude if your boss decided to randomly withhold part of your income whenever he wanted because he believes there are no moral consequences of doing so.
  - imanaccount247 12y ago
    Saying "I don't want to listen" is not a useful contribution to the discussion. If I had a boss, it would be wrong for him or her to withhold income from me because we agreed that we would exchange my labor for his or her money. That is nothing like copying data. I find it interesting how people who push "intellectual property rights" so often do so by poor analogies. If you feel a moral obligation to pay people for copying data, then go right ahead. Pretending everyone else is also morally obligated to do so because "I can't tell you why so here's a terrible analogy" is not compelling.
    - res0nat0r 12y ago
      Your moral high ground arguments honestly carry zero weight with me. I couldn't care less about some nonsense about your agreeing or not agreeing to some kind of contract. Person A states that you should pay X for their product. You don't. There isn't any other argument other than you are just cheap and only do it because you can get away with it. If the same happened to you and affected your income you would be on here whining about how terrible the situation is. Again everyone would respect you much more if you just said: yeah I'm cheap and can take content for free, so I do.