Piracy: good or bad?

Forum Pirate wrote:Piracy and theft are different crimes. Thats my point. They're not the same thing. They have different penalties. If I download every game ever made its not grand theft. If I steal every game ever made it is.

As an example of legaly downloading games, (not piracy, you're right)I own a game boy advance and pokemon saphire. Unless the laws have changed without my knowledge, downloading a gba emulater and pokemon saphire rom are legal because I already own the material.

In the eyes of the law it's the same thing. If you cross the border with illegally downloaded content, you can be charged as if you stole a physical copy of that media. The reason why nobody seems to "care" about it is because it's hard to determine who illegally downloads and who doesn't. You know how they shut down megaupload and criminally charged its owners? Yeah, so, your point is wrong.

Also, you are correct in that downloading something you already own or have owned is perfectly legal.

Well, ****. My actual opinion is on the first 2 pages. Uploading is copyright infringement. A different crime. I'm positive thats not theft in the eyes of the law.

I can tell you first hand that the law views it as theft.

One of the big issues with all this piracy stuff is public opinion. People don't LIKE the fact that it's illegal, people don't LIKE the fact that the government is trying to get rid of piracy. I'll admit, the US government is doing a piss-poor job of trying to stop piracy, with SOPA and PIPA, but they still view piracy as theft.

The only reason they don't throw more people in jail because of piracy is because, if they threw EVERYONE who did in jail, most of the population would be behind bars. Even if they only threw a few people in, the public would be pissed beyond belief.

But I digress, this isn't about how the government handles piracy, it's about our opinion on how good or bad it is. I think piracy as a whole is bad, but in moderation isn't all that harmful.

Petit larceny and grand larceny have different penalties too and don't use the word theft but are still theft. Lets avoid a terminology discussion which seems to be getting ugly and discuss the original idea. Legally speaking at least in NY state piracy is theft and is generally accepted as a subtype as it is taking intellectual property without license or permission. However, anyone who disagrees that it fits the definition is free to disagree as it is irrelevant to the desired topic.

If a game company doesnt offer me a Demo

if I cant find an obscure bands CD

if a company charges HUGE for a program i intend to make 0$ from

then f--- yeah. ill pirate till the cows come home, or until i:

-enjoy said game

-Find said CD (i like my hard copies, digitally DL music isnt my thing)

-actually wish to profit from said software.

its common sense really.

KomradDakka wrote:If a game company doesnt offer me a Demo

if I cant find an obscure bands CD

if a company charges HUGE for a program i intend to make 0$ from

then f--- yeah. ill pirate till the cows come home, or until i:

-enjoy said game

-Find said CD (i like my hard copies, digitally DL music isnt my thing)

-actually wish to profit from said software.

its common sense really.

Exactly. Spot on.