UK views towards Piracy

[Druga Runda]

Really, what is the difference in downloading content and selling warez? The concept is the same, the only difference is the identity of the players involved.

the difference is between private use and making a business out of someones products.

p2p sharers make no money off it, the companies might, but the program has legitimate uses, moreover the industry has to change too and embrace the tech.

But I gave my views as well above, and in other threads so there

 

[Ty]

Really, what is the difference in downloading content and selling warez?

Do you feel that a drug user and a drug pusher are the same?

 

[Frank]

I hope the US succeeds in making a totally DRM-enabled, copy-proof computer, make it illegal to use something else and try to throw everyone who disagrees into jail. That way, the rest of the world can go on with it and use and develop stuff that doesn't need all that.

 

[silence]

I hope the US succeeds in making a totally DRM-enabled, copy-proof computer, make it illegal to use something else and try to throw everyone who disagrees into jail. That way, the rest of the world can go on with it and use and develop stuff that doesn't need all that.

heh.... imagine China as "land of free"... hi hi hi.....

 

[Bigus Dickus]

p2p sharers make no money off it, the companies might, but the program has legitimate uses, moreover the industry has to change too and embrace the tech.

And I believe I said pretty much just that.

 

[Bigus Dickus]

Really, what is the difference in downloading content and selling warez?

Do you feel that a drug user and a drug pusher are the same?

Did you even bother to read my entire post, or just the first line before forming a knee-jerk response to it?

There is a distributor and a user in both cases. The only thing that makes selling warez "worse" than downloading from the internet is the distinction between distributor and user. This is the same as is the case for drugs. Both illegal, just different sides of the transaction.

 

[Ty]

Did you even bother to read my entire post, or just the first line before forming a knee-jerk response to it?

Do you always assume that tonal neutral posts are attacks? It was simply an honest question, nothing assumed.

Perhaps I worded my question poorly. It seems you are saying both the end-user of piracy and the seller of warez are performing illegal actions - fine, no one is arguing that.

But it's the degree of "badness" that some of us are discussing - a distinction you seem to acknowledge the existence of. Yes?

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

There is a distributor and a user in both cases. The only thing that makes selling warez "worse" than downloading from the internet is the distinction between distributor and user. This is the same as is the case for drugs. Both illegal, just different sides of the transaction.

And yet you seem to be determined to ignore the difference the law makes between using and dealing. It's the same kind of distinction the law makes between copyright infringement and theft. It's impossible to have a rational debate with you while you insist that the difference does not exist.

 

[Bigus Dickus]

And yet you seem to be determined to ignore the difference the law makes between using and dealing. It's the same kind of distinction the law makes between copyright infringement and theft. It's impossible to have a rational debate with you while you insist that the difference does not exist.

Say whaaa?!?!

I've reread my post a dozen times now, and I just don't see how you guys are reading such things into it. I clearly acknowledged a distinction between using and distributing, in both the case of IP/media and drugs, and made it quite clear in two different ways that distributing is indeed worse than simply using.

I thought all of that was a given. The important points that I raised are that (1) using is still illegal, (2) online IP theft is interesting and complex in that many "users" (i.e., downloaders) are also "distributors" (i.e., serve the role of servers for other downloaders), (3) online IP theft is even more interesting in that the party creating the distribution software is another form of distributor (i.e., drug pusher) but that there are often substantial legitimate uses for their software while this is not the case for illicit drugs, and (4) that while there might be legal and semantic differences between "piracy" and "theft" both the moral concept and economic consequences are essentially the same. I find it odd that some have transformed the meaning of piracy to such a degree than they no longer believe it means something is stolen. They believe it is something else entirely... like borrowing without permissing perhaps, or something equally lame and laughable.

Perhaps it was the way that I first posed a question, and then continued to answer it, that confused some of you... much the same as the way Ty asking a question which I had already answered confused me.

 

[silence]

(4) that while there might be legal and semantic differences between "piracy" and "theft" both the moral concept and economic consequences are essentially the same. I find it odd that some have transformed the meaning of piracy to such a degree than they no longer believe it means something is stolen. They believe it is something else entirely... like borrowing without permissing perhaps, or something equally lame and laughable.

economic consequence are not the same and will never be. that "every dowloaded song/program" crap RIAA and MPAA are spawning all over the place is really stupid and becomes almost as boring as you when you go on with this crusad of yours.....

 

[Bigus Dickus]

It's not a crusade, it's personal opinion; I'm allowed to have it and to express it when the subject arises, and if you disagree then you can explain why or just fuck off.