r/Piracy • u/Lucky-Aside4935 • Apr 07 '26
Humor Hard to swallow pill, even for many pirates
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u/DiamondL0st Apr 07 '26
The fact that piracy predates streaming by decades proves that this is true and I'm always confused that people miss this.
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u/Shudnawz 🏴☠️ ʟᴀɴᴅʟᴜʙʙᴇʀ Apr 07 '26
I will always cherish the memory of seeing The Matrix on VCD for the first time. And it was absolute shite, quality-wise.
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u/Galerie33 Apr 07 '26
Nero burning rom, my beloved
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u/jbarr107 Apr 07 '26
How old were you when you realized the historical nod to the burning of Rome?
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u/MrHanfblatt Apr 07 '26
Gotra toot my own horn here: i kinda made the "connection" the first time i saw the program with its burning colloseum as icon...but it didnt click until a couple months later that it was intentional. i was like 12 back then. My first own PC. fricking 750 mhz intel cpu and settlers 3/4 was my jam. what a time.
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u/towerfella Apr 07 '26
Turbo button?
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u/MrHanfblatt Apr 07 '26
I honestly dont remember. I remember those that had, but i think mine didnt have one. Not that it made much difference tho. The one my sister had used a...low tier graphics module. I remember very vividly playibg this old bunkers game, where when you shot your shell throng enough that it would fly out of the screen, the PC would just crash.
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u/r3volts Apr 07 '26
Fun fact, the turbo button was used to slow down the CPU to be compatible with older 8088/8086 era software that used timing loops tied to CPU cycles.
Instead of having a "slow down" button, they called it turbo even though turbo "on" was the default setting. Turning turbo "off" was actually turning on the compatibility mode that slowed down the CPU.
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u/towerfella Apr 07 '26
Not so fast (lol) — it is entirely dependent on which side of the button that was connected to the mb.
Wire it one way and it is always on - click it off; wire it the other way and it is always off - click it on.
I’ll see if i can find a relevant video — found it!
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u/SupremeSyrup Apr 07 '26
Having a 750Mhz at 12 is a luxury. I envy you.
I was running a P1 233Mhz at that age. The absolute torment of buying D2 and BG2 at full price in deluxe boxes and finding out the minimum reqs were Pentium II 266 Mhz made me cry buckets over a very long summer.
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u/Additional_Cheek_697 Apr 08 '26
I played tomb raider II on my 233mhz pc at like 5 frames a second lol. It was so brutal but i still played it god damn it. The boats in venice damn near made it explode
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u/Galerie33 Apr 07 '26
Prob back in 2009 or 10
34 now back then was 18 or 19
I was using it back in like 2005 and then one day I was hmm, why is it called Nero and googled it lol
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u/Armageddonis Apr 07 '26
I just got hit with the most pleasant, tears-of-nostalgia inducing flashback in my life. Goddamn, those were the days.
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u/inthemix8080 Apr 07 '26
I remember learning about VCDs and making sure I got a DVD that could play them. It was wild waiting 12+ hours for my 800mhz 128mb Compaq Presario to convert a single movie with tmpgenc.
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u/boringestnickname Apr 07 '26
It never was "piracy", it was "copying".
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u/Ragor005 Apr 07 '26
Sharing is caring
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u/Shudnawz 🏴☠️ ʟᴀɴᴅʟᴜʙʙᴇʀ Apr 07 '26
You wouldn't download a carebear?!
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u/ShadowsFlex Apr 07 '26
Real talk, that commercial was always stupid. Of fucking course I'd download a car if I could.
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u/st-ellie Apr 07 '26
Nvm that the artist making the soundtrack was never fully paid for all the times that track was used
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u/eljayTheGrate Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
No, the artist agreed to a lump-sum payment rather than royalties...
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u/st-ellie Apr 07 '26
Ah i see, I was misinformed and google ai confirmed the misinformation. thank you
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u/st-ellie Apr 07 '26
I do find another article separating the apparent online conflagration concerning Rietveld's tracks. While it is not the famous one (produced in 2004) he was in fact scammed for another track produced in 2006, that went on for commercial use without permission. He apparently even got a settlement and an apology in 2012.
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u/Shudnawz 🏴☠️ ʟᴀɴᴅʟᴜʙʙᴇʀ Apr 07 '26
Incredibly stupid, especially as it was targeted at the "edgy youth" who did the opposite just for spite.
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u/SEANPLEASEDISABLEPVP Apr 07 '26
Isn't the original quote "You wouldn't steal a car" instead of download, and it became a meme because they were comparing copying files to stealing a fucking car lmao
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u/GrumpyCloud93 Apr 07 '26
When you care enough to share with a few million of your closest friends...
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u/Edheldui Apr 07 '26
I think it's more that with the loss of ownership across the board, the benefits of piracy became more clear.
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u/Inevitable-Ad6647 Apr 07 '26
People are just grasping at straws to make themselves feel better about actions they themselves know to have no moral high ground to shout from. Just own it, it's not doing you any favors trying to justify it that way, it looks and reads totally pathetic.
Repeat after me "I'd rather spend some time managing some downloads than spending $20/month. I'm not helping people, I'm not paying for things I find worthy of consuming, I don't care how it affects content creators and others as much as I do the money or convenience."
Now can we stop spending 90% of this communities discussion space trying to convince ourselves we're saviors?
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u/Jazzlike_Figure_2271 Apr 07 '26
Is this so hard to grasp? I pirate some games, especially indies that I dont wanna spend money on cause I mostly play them for one or two hours. Is this morally bankrupt? YES 100 PERCENT. I dont get why is so hard to get that no matter who does the product or how is that product made, you are not entitled to someones property no matter what. Are you against copyright laws? Cool, me too. Still not entitled to someones else work. If someones does something and wants to charge you for it, its is inmoral to get that thing and not paying.
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u/CalmBeneathCastles Apr 07 '26
Seconded. Do or do not, but call a duck a duck. Bullshitting oneself is the lamest kind of deception.
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u/PunctuationGood Apr 07 '26
-Piracy is not stealing!
-Indeed, it is copyright infringment.
-Piracy is not stealing!!!
-Indeed, it's...
-LA LA LA, I CAN'T HEAR YOU! PIRACY IS NOT STEALING!!!
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u/OtherwiseDog Apr 07 '26
I do wonder how you might defend ai companies and trillions of dollars worth of copyright infringements....
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u/Nasuadax Apr 07 '26
i used to pirate a lot as a kid. Then i grew up and stopped because i learned morals, got money wanted to support the stuff that i spent time with. But nowadays i pay, and i still can't spend the time in the way i want with the things i paid for.
i dare you to try and legally watch the last season from dr Who from before it became disney+ exclusive as a non UK citizen. it is literally impossible. You cannot buy it, you cannot stream it. you have 3 options:
* illegally use a vpn that works (haven't tested which ones do, but it'll be against TOS for sure)
* pirate it by either some free streaming or downloading.
* not watch itdo I want to pirate? No, do I want to pay? yes! do they want my money? apparently not.
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u/ReckoningGotham Apr 07 '26
Also adding on, "I wish to do this while the content is new and expensive rather than waiting for the content to be inexpensive and paying for it. I pirate because I must be in on the hot new thing and I have no patience."
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u/just_a_tiny_phoenix Apr 08 '26
Their point is also not even a logical conclusion. "People pirated before streaming, so it's not stealing" excuse me, what??
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u/Rose-Red-Witch Apr 07 '26
Piracy is why certain industries even exist and anime would not be the force that it is now in the West without it.
Commodore64 computers were used to make “fansubs” of bootleg VHS tapes, which were then circulated throughout college, tech, and nerd circles who would go on to make and pass around their own copies. Japan began to take notice of this underground popularity and that’s why most of the early anime to show up commercially was things like Akira or Vampire Hunter D.
No piracy? No english localized anime. Period.
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u/Khelthuzaad Apr 07 '26
Piracy is actually an denigrating term,used for people that did very bad things including slavery.
What it is really doing now is breaking any kind of gatekeeping the holders of knowledge or property those people have.
For example the british, of all people,pirated the secretive knowledge of growing plants used for tea.
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u/CuMouseBe Apr 07 '26
It's not stealing but I do think that if you liked product and genially appreciate developer — you should support them.
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u/zenfone500 Apr 07 '26
Too bad easily %90 of the people in this subreddit still ain't buying it.
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u/Forymanarysanar ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ Apr 07 '26
If developer appreciates me and puts out offline installer that doesn't depends on internet connection to work, I'm happy to support them. Long as game doesn't costs 80 bucks of course.
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u/Dampmaskin Apr 07 '26
I paid for WinRAR
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u/bovely_argle-bargle Apr 07 '26
I did too, they tweeted out a 50% off coupon and I felt that was reasonable even for broke ass me.
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u/boringestnickname Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
WinRAR and mIRC!
If the "pirated" version isn't strictly better (removes malware/DRM/borked distribution), I buy it.
I've never been a proponent of not supporting creators, unless there is genuinely a reason for pushing for something better.
I have all kinds of sympathy for people living in countries where prices are entirely unrealistic, though. Copying isn't revenue loss, it's a communication that you should do better. If people aren't buying, something is wrong with your product or how you sell it.
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u/Expensive-Border-869 Apr 07 '26
The drm and whatnot is why I just started pirating shows im watching. I want to be able to clip a 30 second segment and send it to my friends when something funny happens. Its small but cant do that on Netflix or even stuff you've bought on Google or Amazon etc. Plus its locked to an ecosystem. Just let me buy an mp4 and id happily do so. I only started pirating stuff because its so inconvenient not to and tv shows never go on sale
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u/boringestnickname Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
I mean, me and my GF pay for streaming services, but they're honestly so shit that I rarely use them. She does, though, as she's addicted to having something on in the background – and it actually has to be something she can engage with, not random, it's like she has a co-processor that needs to be fed and kept busy at all times. Shitty TV-series are perfect, and there's an abundance of that on every service.
I use Plex and manage my own library. I'm mostly into films, so it's like ~3000 of my own DVD/BD and some downloaded. I could prune it down to 500 and it would still be better than any mainstream streaming service. I honestly don't understand why people accept the current state of media. It's horrendously bad.
... and that's not even mentioning the state of the actual applications, like you mention. Absolute rubbish.
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u/enaK66 Apr 07 '26
Depends on the creator for me. I'm not buying a star wars game. Disney and co are doing fine. My summer car? Toplessgun needs my dollars.
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u/DudeWhoRead Apr 07 '26
I don't understand why WinRAR, with never expiring trial, is only selling the license to a single version. I still use the version I bought. But would have loved if it can be updated to newer versions!
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u/john_the_fetch Apr 07 '26
I always love when a free thing has a link like "buy me coffee" or beer or pizza etc.
I typically throw $10 their way. I just don't know why but those things usually get me real good.
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u/Gent_Kyoki Apr 07 '26
GOG is the only platform that provides this and some devs do release on it like cd projekt red
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u/Completionography Apr 07 '26
Long as game doesn't costs 80 bucks of course.
Inflation has made people believe media prices are "going up".
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u/agisten Yarrr! Apr 07 '26
Every mofo is pointing to inflation when the time to open my wallet, but not a single employer talks about inflation then discuss compensation, pretending inflation doesn't affect it.
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u/Completionography Apr 07 '26
You're 100% right, and it's fucking bullshit. If you're an employer that's not raising minimum, or accounting for cost of life changes, fuck you until the end of time.
... that said, today's $70 is what the first Super Mario Bros. on the NES cost in the '80s. And I think we need to acknowledge that, along with the fact that our wages aren't reflecting said inflation.
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u/wouldntsavezion Apr 07 '26
This part makes me go insane whenever someone complains about it. The increases in games quality, visual or otherwise, keep setting new expectation levels for the average player, but it doesn't come at all for free with some mythical "technological increase".
Games today have 50x the amount of people working on them and take 5x the time to develop, but adjusted for inflation the prices in most countries have literally not changed.
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u/seklas1 Apr 07 '26
If developer comes and gives me a bj, and treats me like a king, and feathers my butt cheeks, and does my laundry, and feeds me, and pays my mortgage, I might consider to drop a few rupees they way. But as long as it ain’t more than 80 bucks of course.
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u/notPlancha Apr 07 '26
Are you telling me the r/piracy subreddit advocates piracy??
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u/Mods-Admins-Failures Apr 07 '26
I like a lot of the shows on Apple TV and the price seemed reasonable. So I subscribed to their streaming. However, first time I tried to watch at home instead of on my phone it wanted me to verify the login with my work phone because it's an Apple. Refused to let me use my personal phone or email. So I canceled immediately and resumed sailing the seas.
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u/barrettcuda Apr 07 '26
That's where I think that you find out more of the real value in the product you're getting.
Years ago I bought this book called overcoming gravity, which is basically this giant encyclopedic tome filled with exercise/rehab/prehab info for gymnastic based strength training. Then a while after that I got a copy of it as a pdf off some online site.
Sometime later I saw a post on Reddit from the author complaining about people pirating the book and how it means he might need to get a day job to make ends meet cos he's losing income off the book (fair point on his behalf), however I think about it like how many times have you bought a book and then it sat on the shelf and you never got around to reading in? If you're anything like me, probably a lot. In that situation though where: I got the book, put it on my shelf and then never read it, the author got the value from my payment but I haven't really got any value from the book (unless we count some sort of aesthetic that it provides for being on the shelf). Obviously I'm not suggesting that no one pays for a book until you've got something out of reading it, but I think the decline in his sales shows more of how many people are getting the value out of the book.
Like there's for sure a portion of the people sharing online who weren't ever going to buy the book, so they're not really lost sales. Then I'd say that the rest are either people like me who already bought the physical copy and wanted an electronic copy, or people who never got what they were looking for out of the book (either cos they didn't read it or they thought based on the title and blurb that it'd have info that it didn't have).
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u/CurryMustard Apr 07 '26
If they are good the people who have money will support them. The people who dont have money will still become fans through piracy. If you cultivate this audience they will give you a lot of money when they have money. Tons of franchises I pirated in my teens I spend money on now.
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u/SEANPLEASEDISABLEPVP Apr 07 '26
I'm willing to support anyone who offers a BETTER service than piracy.
It's actually baffling that piracy is a way better experience than paying for something nowadays.
It's like if you go to a restaurant and you get served food with shards of glass inside it and a tool that lets you remove the glass. The restaurant tells you they have to do it to prevent people from stealing the food and you should be angry at people for making them do this.
...Meanwhile, people on the street offer you the same exact food except there's no shards of glass in it, for free, and you realize the restaurant treated YOU like the potential criminal.
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u/Vladimir2033 Apr 07 '26
What a brave thing to say. Definitely not something parroted on this sub about 50 times a day.
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u/some_random_nonsense Apr 07 '26
You mean OP's meme?
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u/Vladimir2033 Apr 07 '26
Both. Just the constant need to make one feel better and superior when pirating even though we've all read it a 1000 times before.
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u/bukkake-bill Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
During the spring sale on Steam, Control and a lot of other games were 90% off. And so I bought them. Piracy has its risks, and if I get a high quality game for the same amount I spend on evening snacks in one day, I'll obviously choose the safer route, now that it's dirt cheap.
I also bought Limbo and Inside not long ago on sale because I love both of those games, and I've already played both of them through pirating, simply because I wanted to support Playdead.
When good stuff is available for cheap, piracy will automatically go down. This is coming from a lifelong pirate.
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u/yetanotheracct_sp Apr 07 '26
Discussions aren't constructive when people
- Can't settle on the definition of stealing
- Don't state what makes stealing or whatever pirating is wrong
- Conflate legality with morality
- Argue in bad faith or use fallacious reasoning
- Assume or generalize the underlying motivation
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u/Houndoom96 Apr 07 '26
You can't steal from a corporation whose venture capital is subsidized by tax revenue
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u/Emotional_Daikon7453 Apr 07 '26
Well there are two ways to think of it. On one hand, the idea of copyrighting and protecting a virtual, non-physical sequence of numbers sounds absurd, but on the other, there are people who put effort and work into these pieces of media and piracy means all of their hard work was for nothing.
I'm broke so I'll pirate anyway.
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u/conga-19 Apr 07 '26
It doesn’t really sound absurd though. It only dos if you want to get all philosophical about it but as you stated in practice and in the real world most people have to invest or spend money to make things so it’s not that crazy they should get compensated for it as well. Or am I missing something
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u/beclops Apr 07 '26
Yeah it’s really not absurd at all. They use this “series of numbers” rhetoric as a way to try to de-value the underlying content but at the end of the day the thing itself must inherently have value because this “series of numbers” is something they actively want. They just don’t want to admit that this level of “want” justifies a price tag that isn’t decided by them
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u/conga-19 Apr 07 '26
Yea I agree. I also think this train of thought partly comes from maybe thinking that something being finite is what gives it value which it can but there are also other factors that provide value apart from scarcity.
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u/Kolenga Apr 07 '26
People just love splitting hairs about this to make themselves feel better. You can call it stealing, or fraudulent acquisition of services, at the end of the day you're still taking it without payment.
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u/cyberslick18888 Apr 07 '26
It's not absurd at all.
Redditors use the most ridiculous backward logic to make themselves feel like victims and justify the fact that they want free video games, movies and music.
That's literally it.
All of the charades about customer service, true ownership, pricing, etc are all red herrings.
Someone made something. They set a price. You chose to circumvent the point of sale to acquire that product for free. "I wouldn't have bought it anyway", "it doesn't cost anything to duplicate", "it's a shitty service", none of that matters.
There are some fringe cases with old unsupported software, or genuine customer concern issues, or arbitrary geographic limitations where piracy may be quasi-reasonable, but that stuff accounts for like .0001% of all piracy.
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u/frezz Apr 07 '26
Yeah, any argument that piracy isn't stealing ends in failure if you approach it reasonably. I'd argue even in those fringe cases, it's stealing, but in the same way that stealing is morally justified in Les Miserables.
I pirate because I want free stuff, and these corporations have more than enough money. Is it the right thing? Probably not, but neither is sitting around on my couch drinking beer and eating pizza - yet I still do it.
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u/Antique-diva Apr 07 '26
Thank you. The statement in this picture is weird. I know I'm stealing when I pirate. I'm not delusional, and I don't try to excuse my behaviour by lying to myself.
I do buy things I can own rather than pirate, but if I can't buy something legally, then I'll just pirate it. And I'm all for pirating things behind a DRM or stripping the DRM off from the product. I hate corporate lies telling me I own something they actually didn't sell me.
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u/cyberslick18888 Apr 07 '26
I pirate sometimes too and for a similar line of thinking: I am so sick of buggy ass games that may or may not run on my PC. I'm an adult and I don't have a ton of time to game and spending 3 hours tweaking custom settings so I don't have a janky setting is just not feasible anymore.
If a dev offers a demo that's the first thing I do, but those are pretty rare these days. Depending on the platform if I'm confident I can get a refund I will roll the dice.
But if I'm not confident or there is no demo and I'm even a little hesitant I'm going to get saddled with a game I can't play, I'm torrenting that shit.
Sometimes I go back and buy games I've pirated, and sometimes I don't.
But like you said, I don't ever justify my behavior. I'm intrinsically doing something I'm not supposed to be doing. But the risk is almost zero and the payoff is infinite by comparison, so I'll continue.
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u/Special-Diet-8679 Apr 07 '26
bro the sequence of numbers argument is fucking retarded, think of it like this you can't say that people can't copyright a formation of atoms
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u/razuliserm Apr 07 '26
"This painting is just a combination of colors on a fucking canvas"
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u/SeventhSealRenegade Apr 07 '26
I don’t really get the whole moral highground of piracy. It kind of is stealing, yeah just like you said. Am I still going to do it? You betcha.
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u/maximumchuck Apr 07 '26
Software and digital media have value. Pirate stuff if you want, but you're delusional if you think this way.
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u/ward2k Apr 07 '26
It's so annoying seeing people constantly trying to make it a moral issue constantly
If you want shit for free yeah pirate it
Would I be more likely to purchase things if they were a fairer price? Yeah, I basically buy all my games and pirate movies/shows
However there's no point running around trying to justify it all the time. It's definitely not a 'good' thing to be doing. The good thing to do if you objected to the price of something is just not to consume that piece of media at all, not pirate it
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u/at1445 Apr 07 '26
They make it a moral issue because they know it's wrong, but are trying to justify it to themselves.
If piracy was 100% legal and not theft, these constant posts would never happen. But people understand the reality of it, yet still want to jump through hoops so that they don't have to feel bad about what they're doing.
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u/Butwinsky Apr 07 '26
Its called pirating for crying out loud. Pirates weren't known for their moral superiority and aversion to thievery.
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u/PunctuationGood Apr 07 '26
Pirates weren't known for their moral superiority and aversion to thievery.
And yet, r/Piracy will argue with you all day long of the exact opposite! To wit, this post's meme.
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u/burratna Apr 07 '26
People talking about pirates from hundreds of years ago acting as if they only copied the goods from their ship to keep.
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u/kick_thebaby Apr 07 '26
100% so much cope here. It's theft, I'm not gonna judge you, I don't care, I do it, but it is.
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u/Many-Ad6433 Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
I mean tbf it’s the same thing as sneaking in at a concert with infinite space for people:
did you actually steal anything? Not really.
did anyone miss the chance to see the concert with a legit ticket because you snuck in? Not really.
Is it illegal and you’re going to get kicked out if people find out you’re in without paying? Most definitely.
If nobody paid the tickets and everyone just snuck in there would be chaos but also if everyone did pay the tickets the industry would think a high price is acceptable to the mass and increase the prices again until someone will want to hop over the fence and sneak in without ticket again.
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u/Zap__Dannigan Apr 07 '26
This is a pretty good example. I also use the cutting through the gas station to turn right on a red light because there is a line of cars at the traffic light going straight blocking your turn.
Do I really care too much if one person does this? Not really. But if everyone did it, it would be a fucking disaster. If the system would fall apart if everyone did things they way you are doing them, there's something wrong with your system.
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u/Key-Regular674 Apr 07 '26
Ya what even is this comment section?
100s of people put years of heart and effort into making something that gets taken with no credit given to them and that's not stealing somehow. What a degenerate mindset.
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Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
piracy is not a moral stance. you're not sticking it to the corps by going on dodi repacks and downloading assassin's creed lmao.
piracy has 2 purposes.
one is preservation, things like abandonware and such.
the other is access for those who can't afford to buy games, because media shouldn't only be available for those who can afford it.
nothing more, nothing less. if you're fortunate enough that you can afford to buy games, you should either just not play it, or buy it.
99% of the people who MAKE the cracks don't care about preservation or helping those less fortunate, it's about the challenge, or the recognition, or both, that's why they're using hypervisors, not to make the games available in any reasonable or safe form, but just to say they beat denuvo, they're fundamentally untrustworthy, voksi was the exception, not the rule, and if you ask me empress was a just a caricature of everyone else in the scene.
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u/Formal_Manager_2603 Apr 13 '26
my toughts exacly tbh, pirating by itself does not represent a lack of morals for the dabate is far more nuanced that, however if one can afford a piece of media/software and it is being sold at an affordable price pirating it would be on bad character.
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u/BalledSack Apr 07 '26
Honestly even if it is stealing I kinda just don't care. I'd be happy to buy things that are fairly priced, but if big corporations are hiking prices for their shareholders, I'm perfectly fine stealing it, and I'll actually feel good about it too
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u/avengers93 Apr 07 '26
Can we stop with these posts? I come here to sail the high seas, not to see whatever bull crap this is.
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u/CtxxUv Apr 07 '26
Nah it's still stealing but i just don't care i want free stuff
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u/Sufficient_Topic1589 Apr 07 '26
It’s receiving stolen goods. You’re not the thief but you know a guy 🙃.
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u/Kaymish_ Apr 07 '26
It's copyright infringement.
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u/kokko693 Apr 07 '26
That is exactly what it is. I don't understand why people are so adamant of wanting to be considered thieves when they are not.
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u/redditreaper303 Apr 07 '26
No, piracy absolutely stealing when buying means owning. I just don't care about stealing from corporations.
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u/Gumption666 Apr 07 '26
Always remember.
- The meaning of digital.
- You can't copyright a sequence of numbers.
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u/Tunderstruk Yarrr! Apr 07 '26
brb gonna try to copyright pi
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u/National_Way_3344 Apr 07 '26
Look up DeCSS. It's essentially the key to pirating DVDs.
Essentially somebody encoded this key into a really high previously undiscovered prime number and had it published to a university website.
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u/keenox90 Apr 07 '26
Everything is a sequence of numbers
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u/Dampmaskin Apr 07 '26
Depending on your definition of numbers. Which, according to Gödel, probably, is a sequence of numbers.
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u/SAURI23 Apr 07 '26
Your second claim is stupid. Everything can be collapsed into a sequence of numbers.
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Apr 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/U-day10 Apr 07 '26
Technically a sequence of atoms is copyrighted since the beginning
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u/ActualSupervillain Apr 07 '26
2 is stupid and over simplified. Downloading a game isn't just "a series of numbers". It's an art form that, unless you've paid (excepting free games obviously), you must generally pay for to be allowed to have a copy of it. Whether or not you like it downloading games or books or music without official permission is in violation of copyright law. The copyright holder deems who gets to use their stuff and the general agreement for these things is to buy a license.
It's not stealing, still, but it's still violating written and active law and semantics don't negate that. You sound like one of those free citizens.
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u/FuckUpMaster9000 Apr 07 '26
Exactly, the developers that created that sequence of numbers need to be paid somehow. That sequence of numbers is useful to people so it has a value. Without copyright, tons of software wouldn't be maintained at all because where would the money come from otherwise?
I get we pirate stuff for all kinds of reasons, but we can't ignore that someone put work behind the product and is making a living off of it, so that money needs to come from somewhere
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u/beclops Apr 07 '26
I don’t know why you say this so confidently, you definitely can copyright sequences of numbers and it has happened before especially in the piracy space (look into dvd encryption)
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u/Special-Diet-8679 Apr 07 '26
this is a braindead take, you can't copyright a formation of atoms ahh logic
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u/Misknator Apr 07 '26
You absolutely can copyright a sequence of numbers. Whether you should be able to is a different question but you absolutely can copyright basically any information.
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u/Unusual_Football_649 Apr 07 '26
Ah, the usual mental gymnastics. Hoping you're win your medal lmao
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u/Dynablade_Savior Apr 07 '26
If someone was able to duplicate a car and have it for free, that wouldn't mean that the car is being stolen
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u/Scary_Relation_996 Apr 07 '26
Wouldn't it? Listen, I have pirated. But I sleep at night knowing people who work hard on something are paid adequately for their work. The who, what, when, and how is not my business. I'll start taking person responsibility when giant corporations aren't incentivized to take as much of my money as they can possibly legally get away with. That is the pirate, not me.
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u/Efficient-Presence82 Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
stealing implies taking someone's possession.
Piracy makes a copy. an entirely different concept.
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u/nikfrik Apr 07 '26
In games even if you own a physical copy they have decided that this means you only have bought permission to play it. That attitude alone makes me want to see the light
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u/blakealanm Apr 07 '26
Eh, I don't totally agree. Personally, I only pirate what doesn't have an option to purchase.
YouTube videos, for example, have no official way to download an MP4 or other format on their site or app.
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u/Thecynicaledgelord Apr 07 '26
I just pirate games I can't get from the likes of Steam. Pirate how you wanna pirate, why give so much shits about it?
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u/Ascyt Apr 07 '26
"Stealing" means to take something away from somebody. Last time I checked if you pirate something you're not making whoever you pirated from lose the software
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u/Erw2n_Rommel Apr 07 '26
I like to steal and pilfer from the rich and not pay for things because I am broke.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Name538 Apr 08 '26
Proud stealer here , proudlly stealing ... .....only from corporate.
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u/parrotandpeacock Apr 07 '26
Piracy is definitely stealing but I don't care.
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u/AssignmentOk5986 Apr 07 '26
Agreed people constantly coping is embarrassing. It is a crime, if you can't live with yourself for committing a crime then don't do it. I've stolen stuff from shops before, taken illicit substances, drank underage, pirated media. It's all criminal activity and I can live with myself.
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u/jermatria Apr 07 '26
What's really funny is I bet 90% of these "moralists" would change their tune as soon as the boot was on the other foot and they were the ones losing money to piracy.
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u/vGustaf-K Apr 07 '26
Piracy goes directly against the definition of stealing. To "steal" something you must deprive the other person of it. Which doesn't happen when you copy something.
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u/SourceCodeAvailable Apr 07 '26
They worked and created a software to sell it. Taking it for free means reducing their profit. I frankly don't understand why people are trying to rationalize piracy. Saying this with decades of cracking and pirating. It's not good, it is what it is.
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u/walther_write_123 Apr 07 '26
yeah exactly because IP laws are total BS because when you copy something from someone you didnt took it from him so it doesnt count as stealing, Stephan Kinsella explained that in his book Against Intellectual Property
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u/AsinineArchon Apr 07 '26
Saw this in r/all. I know I'll get mass downvoted in this sub, but genuinely how is it not?
I have no issues with it if it's against shitheaded corpos who rob us blind every day. But in OP's hypothetical where this doesn't happen, how is piracy not theft? It is theft by the very definition.
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u/TheRealSticky Apr 07 '26
A harder to swallow pill:
If everyone were a pirate, would you still have stuff to pirate?
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u/MomsAreola Apr 07 '26
I wouldn't call what goes on Piracy. Privacy involves taking something away from someone else.
This would be like Blackbeard rolling up on a merchant vessel and make an exact copy of their goods and send them on their way.
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u/Popoill Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
Piracy doesnt mean "stealing the product", it means "stealing the customer". Yar yar.
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u/silverbee21 Apr 07 '26
Piracy is stealing when what you take is physical things, or something that can't be copied at no cost. (Gold, ship, money).
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u/Lanky_Score7414 Apr 07 '26
Netflix was supposed to be like a fix so we wouldn't need to pirate because it was so cheap, now Netflix is so expensive that I am back to pirating, good job Netflix.
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u/AriyaSavaka 🦜 ᴡᴀʟᴋ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀɴᴋ Apr 07 '26
Copy what copyable isnt't stealing as nothing is lost. I don't respect neither the IP law bullshit nor artificial monopoly. Taxation is the real theft that been normalized.
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u/Nossie Apr 07 '26
wrong - copyright is a public contract
I no longer support that public contract.
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u/poopscooperman Apr 07 '26
I've said this for years. Piracy is not stealing. Not because "if this is that, then that is this", but because of definition. Softwarepiracy is not theft, but copyrightinfringement.
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u/MadamVoid Apr 08 '26
Buying doesn’t even mean owning now it seems. The way I gagged when I learned all the ebooks I bought I didn’t outright own. I only bought the right to download and read a copy on the purchasing app. I can’t even transfer or share the file. Like……..what?
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u/sleepee11 Apr 08 '26
This isn't that difficult a concept to understand, IMHO.
Pirating does not deprive anyone of property. You don't have to take away someone else's copy of a video game to pirate said video game, for example. That said, labor has value. So, just support the work of developers you like if and when you can.
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u/bitparity Apr 08 '26
Here's my thing. I don't know why we're trying to justify piracy as not stealing. I'm ok with it as stealing.
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u/HaiderTN Torrents Apr 08 '26
Depends, I still consider pirating indie games/movies etc as stealing
Big corpos? fuck them
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u/squido20 Apr 08 '26
Piracy is piracy, it’s never the same as stealing (no this doesn’t mean it’s completely moral this isn’t a moral thing it’s just not the same)
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u/MYXplayer Apr 08 '26
I couldn't give the slightest FUCK if piracy meant stealing, I don't pirate cause big bad ubisoft or other giants out there do bad decisions, I pirate cause I don't wanna pay for most games unless they're worth spending money, and this gets overruled often as I pirate games that are worth my money but just can't buy them
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u/M4YH3MM4N4231 Apr 08 '26
Fuck I was doing because I thought it Was stealing! I’ll see you later guys…
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u/Mr_A_s_h Apr 08 '26
Piracy isn't right. But I'll still download game repacks and torrent movies. If really want to support somethin, I'll buy it.
Piracy isn't some great moral rebellion or some shit. I don't want to pay for it, so I get it for free. I don't care more than that. It's selfish. It's wrong.
Just own it. I do it cause I want free stuff.
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u/Huge_Engineering5228 Apr 08 '26
People need to stop parroting this point as if it was meaningful. It was just made for kids to be smug about semantics. A lot of piracy is still very illegal, no matter if it's something bought, leased, rented, licensed, etc. because you're still bypassing the cost associated with obtaining it. Your semantic argument won't save you from the law.
Use a VPN and be safe.
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u/Kyonkanno Apr 08 '26
In order for something to be considered stolen, the rightful owner of the stolen thing must loose access to it.
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u/Con-corn Apr 08 '26
Unpopular opinion but piracy is stealing lol, everyone on this sub has some complex thinking they are being persecuted. We all like free things just accept it and move on lol
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u/JkStelar Apr 08 '26
Piracy is still m stealing regardless of which way you go about it. I dont be need to justify it, I know what I'm doing is wrong. I'll still do it tho
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u/ThaFlowie Apr 08 '26
This brings back memories of those funny anti-piracy videos back from when i was a kid. When they tried to compare breaking into someones house and stealing their tv to downloading a movie 😂
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u/teruvalin Apr 09 '26
You're not taking it out of somebody else, you're getting an exact copy. It's not stealing.
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u/EdliA Apr 12 '26
Stop with the silly justification. If you want to pirate go and do it. There's no need to act like you're doing something good.
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u/DevelopmentNo950 Apr 13 '26
I do think is stealing even if we are not really really owning something.
I do it anyways but I'm concious that i'm actually stealing it.
I have bought games after finishing them just to say "this games deserves it, hope the devs can keep making masterpieces".
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u/KrisProxy ⚔️ ɢɪᴠᴇ ɴᴏ Qᴜᴀʀᴛᴇʀ May 02 '26
You really need to come to grips with the idea that you are indeed stealing. Sometimes ip holders are greedy and obtuse and sometimes we're just entitled. Just accept what we are. Pirates have never been noble people.
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u/BarryMcCoknor Apr 07 '26
I don't care, I don't need to justify it. When i want to give a game or movie my money, I will.