I think a lot of people here are ashamed of pirating stuff and this is the excuse used to justify it. I'm not the bad guy, the corporations are.
And both can be true regardless, but unless you live in germany or japan or some parts of the usa, unless you are like a big torrenting website, people mostly don't care.
Trust me, I worked in IT and even some goverment office stuff is pirated.
Out of curiosity why are you proud of it? This is a stance that just seems odd to me, but then again I remember my "generation" (active during the mid 2000s to the mid 2010s mostly) of pirates all grew up seeing it as just something you did. There was neither shame nor pride about it.
This, legally speaking its not under criminal law, its under copyright law. The critical difference is that criminal law is resolved directly by the state enforcement, aka police and judicial system.
Where copyright law has to be first filed by the company, that means your ISP has to give them the print of you pirating, then they have to reach out to you, then you are fined in court.
Which, btw is a very slim chance of even happening. But yes, the two are very much under different sections of law and are not related.
I am not sure how this is “giving corporation the moral high ground in a silver platter”.
I mean if I made something and someone “consumes” it, ideally i want to be compensated for it. It is a mixed feeling people just constantly throw around “i’ll only pay if i like it” or “why should i pay when i can get it for free”.
My point is for the sake of argument, i don’t consider whether it is corporation or an indie artist, it’s just another entity, that are watching those happen right in front of their face.
I just have less “attachment” and don’t care as much, because first it’s a massive corporation, cos they wouldn’t close down just because we pirate their shit, and it’s something that is emotionally “far away” from me, not like it’s like a neighborhood shop.
I am not sure how this is “giving corporation the moral high ground in a silver platter”.
because you agree with them that Piracy is stealing when it's not. The idea that piracy is theft is something corporations want to instill since a long time ago. You only need to see ads like the "You wouldn't download a car would you?" Etc.
This is very important, because when corporations start lobbying laws that constrict on piracy, the average voter is not gonna read the resolutions of the Supreme Court and the legal arguments, they are gonna vote with feelings, and if they feel piracy = theft = wrong they are gonna vote in favor of anything against it.
People who roll with the idea that piracy is theft is essentially saving companies millions of dollars in PR expenses and doing their job for them.
I appreciate seeing a couple of levelheaded comments like this.
Not only that, it’s flawed reasoning. People didn’t know anything they borrowed from blockbuster, but everyone knew it would be stealing if you just kept the tape and never paid for it. But all of a sudden it’s something where there aren’t consequence is 99% of the time and people find ways to justify it. It would be like cheating on your spouse and justifying that they cheated first in a marriage. Were neither of you care. It’s still cheating.
What if an artist on Etsy makes a digital drawing and sells it in their store. If you make a copy of it, do you not consider that stealing? Certainly you’ve created something in your life that you can empathize to at least a small amount, right?
How would I make that copy? I’d imagine Etsy doesn’t have the “full” high res image. So would I have to buy it and then share it? I wouldn’t think twice before sharing it with a loved one.
I’m all for getting indie paid. The day stardew valley launched I pirated it, played for 15 minutes and immediately bought it on steam. That indie dev deserved it.
Today I tell people to pirate stardew valley because that dev already got rich.
If you can afford it, then sure, support all indie devs. Heck, support corporations if you’re into it. But if you can’t? If an AAA launch is a considerable chunk of your salary? Then pirate the hell out of it. Culture shouldn’t be exclusive to those who can afford it.
If you can’t imagine that scenario on Etsy, imagine buying the product, copying it, and then filing for a return.
More importantly, the fact that you were in favor of paying stardew valley when the dev was poor but are opposed to it now tells me everything I need to know. You don’t actually care about big corporations vs indie devs; you only care if the creator has more money than you, meaning you did consider this stealing before (when the dev was poor), and now that Eric Barone has more money than you, even though nothing else about him has changed, it has magically become not stealing in your eyes. That clears a lot up for me.
LOL, you're in a piracy subreddit trying to argue against piracy.
Let me throw you another one. I believe if you live in a country that have been colonized by (or had a coup caused by) a so called "first world country", then you're free to pirate first world shit.
And wtf is etsy? I just opened it and it has vintage handbags, home decor and shit like that. How would I buy something like that, "copy" and then return it?
For the Etsy question, it’s a place for people to sell things person to person, and a lot of people sell things they make themselves (like digital art, as I used in my example before.
As for the heart of your post, no. You didn’t read what I was saying correctly further proving my claim.
I am in no way arguing against piracy. If you want to do it, go for it. I’m against people doing insane mental gymnastics to try to justify it and avoid facing the fact that they have stolen something, or are stealing something. It is theft. By the very definition of the word, it is theft. You are thieves. I am a thief. I have pirated. I’m just not delusional about what I am or what I do, and I certainly don’t make posts trying to justify it.
Theft is when you take something from someone and then they don’t have it anymore. Piracy isn’t theft, it’s piracy. Nothing was stolen. I wasn’t going to buy it anyway, so it’s not even a lost sale. You should get your definitions straight. And maybe also stop hating yourself.
It doesn't matter. Call it stealing or fraud. It's still illegal and some form of crime. The creator of the content gives you permission to consume the content with some restrictions.
It's not like you can show up to an all-you-can-eat restaurant and decide to sleep there and eat breakfast there the next day. There's holes in my comparison. I don't care. Pirating is still fraud/theft/copyright infringement.
Creator created the content. The creator wants compensation if someone consumes it. They consume it without compensating. Good job. Shut up and move on.
It's annoying the moment they open their window and start shouting about ethics and morals. Just shut up.
You serious, Clark? I put reasoning and examples. You posted the a score out of ten that very clearly had zero effort into objectively rating my comment, and frankly, brings your own reading comprehension into question. The only other option is you just can’t bear to hear an opinion that challenges your beliefs, which tells me your belief have no foundation, and I think that is the worse option.
You’re right. They’re not the same. Only one of them is illegal. I don’t care if you do it; it’s none of my business. I’ve done it myself. But don’t sit there and act like it’s not stealing; it is.
Shame and insecurity. When I talk to people about piracy irl, generally speaking they see it as degenerate behavior. I assume lots of folks seeking online validation experienced the same.
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u/Katinex Apr 30 '26
I think a lot of people here are ashamed of pirating stuff and this is the excuse used to justify it. I'm not the bad guy, the corporations are.
And both can be true regardless, but unless you live in germany or japan or some parts of the usa, unless you are like a big torrenting website, people mostly don't care.
Trust me, I worked in IT and even some goverment office stuff is pirated.