pirated movies/games is it wrong

[sexy-girl]

i have access to pirated software and movies through a friend ... the friend doesnt sell these but lends them to a few friends i can nearly get any game or movie i want before they are in stores/pictures in the uk ... i dont make full use of this but ive gotten some games/movies ... some games ive got like this ive enjoyed and bought them in the store anyway to have the "legit" copy and manuals etc and likewise to watch a movie on the computer isnt anything like the pictures its good quality but not same "big" screen feel so if ive enjoyed the movie on computer ive gone to see it at the pictures too


for that reason i dont think either industries have lost any money from me doing this apart from the a few poor games that i might of bought but i instead got a pirate version and found out they were naff and didnt buy or play them again


i am not sure if what i have done is morally wrong or not i guess in someways it is ... but do you think its more upto the industries to stop the pirating rather then for individual too stay away from doing it ... so what do you think about it

 

[rambling man]

it depends on your moral compass i suppose..do you think you stole and if so, is it that big of a deal

its a big deal now more because it used to be people could dub tapes, maybe one at a time and the quality wasn't that great....now things are more sophisticated, able to produce more of them with better quality.....now someone's losing money

companies, big stars, i dont care they are rich.....the lower and midlevel artists are trying to make a living though and it isnt fair to them

 

[Iwah]

I sure as hell don't think it's wrong, but maybe that's just because I'm trying to justify my own deeds because I have more pirated games and movies on discs lying around here than most people.

Actually it's funny timing for that poll because people are starting to raise hell about pirated movies just like they did with Napster now, because Planet Of The Apes was out on the internet before it was even in theaters. Here we go again...

 

[sexy-girl]

true i wouldnt like to make struggling artists film makers or games producers lose money ... but i dont think i do this ... i think if you really like a product mp3/game/movie ... you will pay for it ... ive got like 200 mp3's on my computer but i own about 300 cds ... many i got a few mp3s from the album ... then bought the album

 

[Markov Cain]

I don't know how to this since I don't know what your profession is, but if you create a new dingleberry and got one cent for every dollar spent on the dingleberry and then you found out 100 million people were playing with your dingleberry for free since you've already sold a million of them so, of course, you must have plenty of money right? I mean, before taxes of course.

HOW WOULD YOU FEEL?

 

[Ambrosious]

It's not as bad as girl-girl sex, but it's up there.

 

[Tabby432]

I think it's stealing. Now ask me if I care?

Nope!

I really don't know if the industy as a whole loses money though. If I want something I buy it. I've been curious or interested in some things and sure I'd check out a pirated/borrowed copy of it. I'd buy it if it was any good so I think they probably make money off of me because I end up buying movies/games/music I otherwise wouldn't have.

 

[sexy-girl]

i think the industrys ... dont lose as much money from pirated things as they say ... they think every time someone has something pirated they've lost the value of money of the item


however they gain money from people who buy something they wouldnt of normally because they tried the pirated version and alot of times people try something pirated they wouldnt of bought anyway


yes they do lose money from it ... but not as much as they claim


im still not sure if its right or wrong though


and Ambrosious you will end up in hell before me

 

[Ambrosious]

and Ambrosious you will end up in hell before me

Well, isn't that a pleasant thought, thank you for the sentiment.

I just hate stupid people.

 

[rambling man]

if girl girl sex is wrong i dont want to be right.....and if sexy girl is going to hell, what do I have to do to go there, too?


Better download some MP3's i guess

 

[Cirrus]

For me it depends on what it is I'm pirating. There are some worthwhile things I would not download or share. Then, there are the hyped to hell games and software with the 100% mark ups in the stores that I get a perverse pleasure out of getting for free. I like to think I'm evening the score. For every status driven 16 year old that's willing to overpay, I'm making up the difference.

 

[nasty]

It's stealing

I think it's stealing because your taking money from the industries pocket, and putting it in yours. I say, share the wealth.

 

[nasty]

Hey man,

It's not as bad as girl-girl sex, but it's up there.

I have NO PROBLEM with girls getting it on. Leave it along, for CRYING OUT LOUD!!!!!! As always, you have my support sexy-girl.

 

[sexy-girl]

thanks nasty *hugs* ... i should ignore the negetive viewpoints of the few and concentrate on the nice things most people have to say ... not always easy to do that though

 

[april-wine]

I AM A MUSIC PIRATE............

i have spent thousands of dollars on shitty cd's.....the way i see it they owe me........but if i really like something i go buy the cd, so i am contributing....ahhhhhhhhh that's better

 

[nasty]

Right on, AW

I LOVE contributing to other people's success. Isn't that what it's all about?

 

[HARDKOREBJ]

movies/games

as long you are not hurting or getting rich off it.i don`t think it matters that much.

 

[YoungGun69]

DEPENDS.

I only dload Cd's of groups i normally dont buy. If I like it then I go to the store and buy it. My favourite groups like van halen and Sammy Hagar will allways get my money cause I like thir stuff and I will not download it.

The funny thing was that I heard the Mettalica album that they did with the New York symphony on Napster first. I liked it so much I went out and bought it. If it wasnt for napster I never would have bought it.

 

[Styphon]

Hi, All

Well, as for piracy, I'm not like some people I know who get EVERYTHING they can lay their hands on. I admit to getting an occasional pirate of something I'm interested in, then I play it and, if I enjoy it, I go and buy it. If I don't enjoy it, I dump it in the bin.

I prefer to vet my software this way because:-

1) Magazine previews are a waste of time - they "Ooh" and "Ahh" over the pretty graphics and the programmers over-enthusiastic predictions of what the game will be like.

2) Even reviews are tainted with the aspects mentioned in the comment on game previews. They also play the game for a fairly short while, what with deadlines to meet and other stuff to cover.

3) Demos of the game sometimes never appear - and this is both extremely suspicious and damn' annoying!

Styphon

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

As an artist I can tell you, uh, yeah, it's wrong.

It's illegal, first of all, and not in the ambiguous sense. The Supreme Court has recognized the concept of "fair copy", which is why we have video tape recorders, but is very clear about the mass proliferation of intellectual property -- you CAN'T do it.

Now, morally it's even worse. It devalues the work and time of the artist and his right to control his creation. A movie like "Planet of the Apes", no matter how much it enters the pop culture zeitgeist, does not belong to everyone. IF you make it available for millions of people to watch it on the Interent you can be prosecuted rightfully, because you have stolen copywritten material AND devalued it by taking away the owners right to choose how it is released to the general public.

In other words, there is both a moral and a legal difference between making a copy of a tape for a friend, and taking a digital camera into a theatre, recording a feature film, and making it avaiable to the world on the Internet.

I think you can see this more clearly if you remove the ease of the techincal piracy away from the question. Let's go back 25 years. Let's say some guy in 1975 working at UIniversal Studios found the film vault, got ahold of a spare print of "Jaws", and was rich enough to go to a studio and make himself 100,000 copies of the film. The quality wasn't that great, but that didn't matter. He then uses his vast fortune to mail the film to first 100,000 people in the phone book. He also sends them an enormous check so they can take their copy of the film, and make another 100,000 copies, which they do. Pretty soon, with all this tremendous effort and cost, you've got a million people watching "Jaws" in their living rooms and in their Knights of Columbus halls, all at the same time the film, which Universal spent money to produce, is being released to legitimate theatres.

Is there any question that the guy who stole the film from the vault should be prosecuted? Is there any question that teh people who willfully took the stolen film and made copies of it arebreaking copyright laws? No, no question at all.

Just because the digital age with its shiny buttons and arch-attitudes makes it easier to steal the work of another person or company doesn't mean it's somehow less wrong. It's theft, as surely as if Mr. Hacker took the flick from the vault.

And, let me be clear about this -- it doesn't MATTER if some people then buy the product. If this were truly a good marketing idea the studios would be pirating their own films left and right. Intellectual theft does NOT translate into more sales.

 

[Always]

pirated games nearly always have bugs and suck so bad you HAVE to buy the real thing if you wanna play it.

at least it lets you know what's worth buying and what isn't.

 

[sexy-girl]

a nice point DCL i am very torn about if its wrong or not ... im not talking about legally i know its against the law


i think musically napster etc they shouldnt try to block that ... i think napster has done alot more to help artists to become bigger and to sell more cds then they would of normally .. ive tried alot of mp3's from napster and liked the songs and decided to buy the album ... when i wouldnt of normally


now why cant that same arguement work for computer games and films ... you try something you wouldnt normally try and then you pay for it ... i dont see anything wrong with that


however i guess it doesnt always work like that ... and many people try the pirated things and would never pay for it because they are happy with having just the pirate version ... but would these people normally buy computer games music albums and pay to goto the pictures if pirated versions didnt exsist who knows ... its not so simple to say its stealing its more complicated then that ... alot of cases its more trying it out first before buying it

 

[DriveSouth]

Personally, I'm involved with a musical group. We've borrowed money to produce a CD. We are real real small.

Just so you'll know where I come from:

I sure feel like I am being robbed when I know of someone duplicating our music without permission. If you'd need to copy your CD or tape, that you had purchased, to give to a talent scout or something ask us, sure we'd find something that would work for all concerned.

Again, we are'nt even a speck of dust in the big picture, but we worked and prepared to limit studio time in order to cut cost. We sing every time there's a stage that welcomes us. So I vote and state that I think it's stealing.

Oh yeah, nearly forgot -
CDs are $15.00, Cassette Tapes are $10.00

email orders only please.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

The trouble with the Napster question is that it's solving the right problem with the wrong answer.

It's criminal the way four big record companies control production, promotion AND distribution. But the answer is not to make alternative music "Stealable".

If artists CHOOSE to make their material avaiable for free, there's no difficulty. But Napster doesn't give artists any choice, and therein lies the problem.

Again, it doesn't matter if it helps more music get before the public, it's still illegal, and immoral, to steal an artist's right to control his own product.

 

[sexy-girl]

Driveboy but since you are as you said a small band perhaps up and coming wouldnt you like for your music to be listened to by as many people as possible even if they dont pay for it


the more people listen to you the more people will buy your cd i thought napster would be PERFECT for the up and coming bands