Marcuse wrote:Aquila89 wrote:random_nerd wrote:Sorta related, but no matter how good a game it is I refuse to buy from EA ever again unless the company undergoes some massive changes beforehand. I won't not play the games from them I already own, but until the day either I die or their current policies die they will not see a penny from me.
That raises a different question; is it unethical to pirate a game from a company that you're boycotting?
Is it unethical to steal from a shop you wouldn't go into? Still theft, even if you don't like the people you're stealing from really hard. Also before anyone objects because no physical thing was stolen, violating someone else's property rights is still unethical even if it's not a physical property, unless intellectual property isn't a thing anyone cares about any more?
Carrie, on hearing of Siphonophores wrote:I heard you like jellyfish, so I put jellyfish in your jellyfish.
ghijkmnop wrote:How many sports venues still play Rock and Roll Part 2 by the infamous Gary Glitter to thousands of screaming fans?
Aquila89 wrote:random_nerd wrote:Sorta related, but no matter how good a game it is I refuse to buy from EA ever again unless the company undergoes some massive changes beforehand. I won't not play the games from them I already own, but until the day either I die or their current policies die they will not see a penny from me.
That raises a different question; is it unethical to pirate a game from a company that you're boycotting?
Meanwhile, counterfeiting laws exist pretty much exactly to protect ability to sell. They're there to prevent competition from flooding the market with lower priced versions of stuff that's intentionally sold at stupid insane markups.
Piracy isn't analogous to theft in any way. Intellectual property isn't actually an analogy to regular property, it's an intentionally misleading misnomer. Copyright exists to protect the creator's ability to market his creation. Regular property law doesn't exist to protect lays' ability to sell a bag of chips. It has nothing to /do/ with markets. It's about owning what you have and, here's why the "loses a copy" is central to the idea of property, stopping people from taking it from you without the government's permission.
Carrie, on hearing of Siphonophores wrote:I heard you like jellyfish, so I put jellyfish in your jellyfish.
52xMax wrote:I believe that if you want to be consistent, your stance on pirating should stay the same regardless of your admiration or dislike for the people behind an artwork.
I can see the merit of sellers' point, but at the same time I think if you're planning to consume products that come from both kinds of people and have limited resources, it is better to support the creators/studios that you sympathize the most and not patronize the ones you don't like but still grab their products anyway.
Marcuse wrote:I don't know how C is distinguishable from theft, where theft is the acquiring of property while subverting the terms of sale it was offered on. In both cases an individual is taking it upon themselves to appropriate an item created by the labour of another person while ignoring or subverting that person's right to offer the item for sale at terms they choose. If you want to argue that companies cannot set their own terms of sale or that it's ethical to ignore the rights of companies because they're not individuals, feel free, but I'm not sure how it's remotely possible to argue that piracy and theft aren't analogous activities.
Marcuse wrote:I mean, this is a very simple logical argument to parse out:
A) You work on a product, creating it by your labour.
B) You offer it for sale to others on terms of your choosing because you own it and have the right to it.
C) Some people subvert the terms of sale you set by acquiring it for free
I don't know how C is distinguishable from theft, where theft is the acquiring of property while subverting the terms of sale it was offered on.
Crimson847 wrote:If I read a book at the library instead of buying it, am I stealing that book? If a friend lends or gives me a copy for free, am I stealing the book from the publisher? If my roommate buys a microwave and I use it without paying the manufacturer, am I stealing the microwave? If I tell someone information that I read in a book, is that duplication and transmission of copyrighted information "theft"?
A Combustible Lemon wrote:Death is an archaic concept for simpleminded commonfolk, not Victorian scientist whales.
CarrieVS wrote:Once you buy a book, it is generally* yours to dispose of as you wish. You may lend it, you may give it away, you may sell it on. What you may not do, if it is under copyright, is duplicate it (barring certain exemptions related to Fair Use and so forth).
CarrieVS wrote:As for telling someone what it says, I am not aware of if or how the law addresses that and differentiates it from making a copy. I should only be speculating. (If pressed to speculate, I should hazard a guess that the definition of a copy does not include information stored solely in a mind, but I stress that this is only a guess.)
Lindvaettr wrote:Digital piracy may not be theft in the traditional sense, but it is theft in a more abstract sense. It's exploiting my work for your benefit, while refusing to provide a basic trade of materials or services to allow me to recoup the losses I incurred while creating the software. If an employer doesn't pay you for all the hours you worked, it's wage theft. Software piracy is basically the same concept.
Lemon wrote:C is distinguishable from theft because there is no way to not acquire it for free. It can be obtained /by accident/.
So if I read a book at the library instead of buying it, am I stealing that book? If a friend lends or gives me a copy for free, am I stealing the book from the publisher? If my roommate buys a microwave and I use it without paying the manufacturer, am I stealing the microwave? If I tell someone information that I read in a book, is that duplication and transmission of copyrighted information "theft"?
Carrie, on hearing of Siphonophores wrote:I heard you like jellyfish, so I put jellyfish in your jellyfish.
A Combustible Lemon wrote:C is distinguishable from theft because there is no way to not acquire it for free. It can be obtained /by accident/.
Terry Pratchett wrote:The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.
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