Slashdot Mirror
Software Piracy Seen as Normal
Spad writes "The BBC is reporting that people don't see downloading copyrighted material as theft, despite concerted efforts by the games, music and movie industries to convince them otherwise. The report, titled Fake Nation, claims that '[People] just don't see it as theft. They just see it as inevitable, particularly as new technologies become available...The purchase of counterfeit goods or illegal downloading are seen as normal leisure practices,' However, they also found that while people are generally not buying counterfeit software from dodgy dealers on street corners, they are still happy to purchase them from people they know at the office/pub/school in addition to downloading them.
Nobody can really be that suprised by the 'popularity' of downloading pirated software, but I was a little thrown by the apparent willingness of people to pay for pirated copies of it."
Pedofiles don't see looking at pics of kids being raped as wrong either....
Come to think of it, car theifs don't see anything wrong with it either... Just the normal way of life you know.... Car theifs need free drugs too!
Piracy isn't theft. Theft is the action in wich one denies others acces to the stolen goods. Piracy doesn't deny anoyne acces to the pirated goods. So piracy is per definition not theft.
You're making up definitions of words to suit your argument.
Piracy - The unauthorized use or reproduction of copyrighted or patented material: software piracy.
Theft - The act or an instance of stealing; larceny.
Stealing - To take (the property of another) without right or permission
Property - Something tangible or intangible to which its owner has legal title: properties such as copyrights and trademarks.
Why the hell do you NEED to pirate software, music, and movies? I have precisely zero copies of pirated files of any type. Yet I have access to tons of music (300 CDs I have gathered over the years, internet and broadcast radio, borrowed material from friends), movies (about a 100 DVDs of my own, plus renting and borrowing), and all the software I need and more, both freeware and paid. Honestly, I have far more media lying around than I could possibly consume - all for a minute fraction of my income (less than 2% in the last five years). And that is even before I waste tons of time in places on the internet like slashdot or (heaven forbid) the local library. Come on, folks. Quit whining and pay for your goodies - and learn to appreciate what you already have.