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"Piracy can't be stealing if paying for it isn't owning" This is increasingly how it feels, when things you "own" digitally become inaccessible, and when shows which are locked in streaming services can get delisted on a whim, disappearing forever. Thank you @Illuminatus for this quote. [Edit: In case this wasn't clear, this is about entertainment and digital ownership, not physical goods] 250 comments
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@gamesbymanuel @Illuminatus by that logic it's not stealing to go into a cinema or a theme park without a ticket because you don't own the theme park if you pay for a ticket  @peter @gamesbymanuel There is a serious problem with literacy, because you are not the first to not understand the difference between the media and the experience and how platforms are destroying the former to garden-wall the latter. @Illuminatus @gamesbymanuel if you personally find it morally or ethically acceptable to pirate content, that doesn't make it not stealing it just means you're okay with some form of stealing. Which to be clear, I'm not saying that I don't support piracy I just support calling it what it is, which is stealing @peter @gamesbymanuel Say I acquire a game with DRM from a platform. Is it stealing if I use a workaround to deactivate it even if the law says so and I have paid for it? Would it be if I got that game on my own physical media instead of leaving it "in the cloud" to download it whenever I want, until I couldn't because of "reasons"? @Illuminatus @gamesbymanuel generally when you buy a game these days you're purchasing a license to access the content under specific circumstances. So it's as much stealing as it is to buy a ticket to a film then record it to watch again later rather than paying to view it again. Again I'm not saying that's how things SHOULD work @peter @Illuminatus So you're agreeing that when you buy a digital game nowadays, you don't own it. That's the issue here. @gamesbymanuel @Illuminatus yes, I agree with that. But it doesn't make it not stealing to circumvent that. @waterluvian Nothing in this thread is about physical objects, but about digital ownership. @gamesbymanuel Services are services. I don’t like it either but it’s so Mastodon Echo Chamber to try to justify stealing. I think you should pay for things you enjoy but piracy is absolutely necessary if we also want to preserve these things. Discs will rot and streaming services will die but if people are still sharing pirated copies it can live indefinitely.
IANAL, but I don't think I would take advice on intellectual property rights from someone who appears to have never: Just saying... 🤷♂️ @arniepix @gamesbymanuel It's sincerely disappointing the amount of people who make the "Damn, boy! You had to just lick the boot, not make a whole breakfast out of it." meme a reality WRT capitalism in the replies. @Illuminatus Just added a note to the original post to see if they calm down, and blocked a sealion.  @eniko You wouldn't believe the amount of people replying things like "So if I steal a rental car it's not theft?", "Stealing from blockbuster isn't stealing", "So if I run away after getting a massage, it's not stealing", etc. It is exhausting. @gamesbymanuel @eniko interesting how none of those examples are piracy, which is a word with a concrete definition we all understand. It's about as relevant as saying "oh so you think fraud is okay?" like no that's a different crime. @gamesbymanuel @Illuminatus mfers saw the you wouldnt steal a car warning on the vhs and never thought twice @gamesbymanuel @Illuminatus @gamesbymanuel Streaming services aside the only digital media I pay for are music downloads in lossless formats. I pay a price for for a non-drm file I can download on to my computer. For everything else I pirate it when needed.  @gamesbymanuel@peoplemaking.games @Illuminatus@mstdn.social in fact, I would argue here that the theft is charging people money for something that you have already made provisions to take back at any time without warning, notification, or recourse. @gamesbymanuel @Illuminatus I’d argue that this applies to digital goods too! If I don’t own my phone for example enough to modify or repair it, that’s not ownership. @gamesbymanuel @Illuminatus These companies made their choices to screw people out of every nickel, so I made my choice to not pay them for their content. Do 2 wrongs make a right? No. Do I plan to just let them screw me over and over and over? Also, no. We've almost come full circle to the point where pirating (or I guess buying physical media, if you can afford it), is more convenient. @gamesbymanuel @Illuminatus With Streaming, it's always been clear that shows rotate on/off. Now if you buy something (as a one off digital) purchase, and that gets yoinked, that's a completely different thing. @gamesbymanuel @Illuminatus For real stuff I like Rossman's quote: "If you can't fix it, you don't own it" #right2repair |
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@gamesbymanuel @Illuminatus I always delete movies after I pirate them, which I guess means I was really just borrowing them?