My class was discussing this topic at school today and it made me very curious... Do you believe internet piracy is okay or not? Should it be against the law, like it is, or should it be okay to download songs, movies, and media for free online? And if not, do you believe the government in America is doing a good job preventing people from pirating? Or what about the government in another country, perhaps? I want to know what you think. ^^ Honestly, in my opinion, internet piracy is NOT okay. That media belongs to the person who created it, and internet piracy is cheating those people from making a profit out of their work. And there are so many pirating websites I've seen that it's just pathetic. I mean, it doesn't seem like the American government is doing a very good job at all trying to prevent piracy. I see people at my school do it every day, and websites for this stuff can become so popular, yet nobody is doing anything to stop it. :/
In terms of pirating music, I agree with it, in some cases. I think it's ridiculous to think that someone will buy an entire CD just because they like one or two songs from them. Sure, there are things like iTunes that allow you to buy one or two songs from the artist, but still. The way I pirate music, I believe, is okay. If the band is indie, not very well known, or if I like a lot of songs by them, I'll buy the CD. I like the idea of owning the physical CD, and I don't consider myself a fan without it. I don't think that the goverment is doing a good job of limiting it. As far as I can see, they attempt to make an example out of one or two people, and it doesn't work.
Is fun. On a more serious note, of course it's not good. But restricting it will just cause even more blow back on the very GOOD aspects of the internet. It's an incredible device, and if you limit it and filter it, it becomes useless for anything that isn't school. It's entertainment, let's keep it that way.
Personally I don't have a problem with it... now maybe if I were an artist or software developer, I'd say otherwise. Since that isn't the case, piracy doesn't bug me. For one, programs especially, are way over-priced... to the point where I couldn't not even buy Adobe Premiere. It comes down to "Do you buy it because it's the right thing?" or "Do you download it for free because you don't want to pay for it and you know you won't get in trouble?" The choice is pretty obvious, especially among those who know where to get them for free. Also I'm not allowed to buy things online so... xD
I completely agree with the free music, videos, media being NOT okay, but the goverment is not doing a good job at all, due to the size of the internet... I believe stuff DVD file converters..or what ever they're called should be legal, for stuff like putting movies on Ipod, Zune, MP3 etc..but not for copying DVD..
It kind of depends to me. If you just go downloading stuff and never pay for things from the people well...it is kind of a rip and wrong. Songs - I really don't see why people can't download music. Even some artists have said they do it and on websites will let you download their songs for free. It's a way of sampling music and if I like the song and find I like a few songs I will certainly go and buy the CD. If one song is good and others suck, I just don't see why I should have to pay to have the whole thing. Another way I support artists is by going to concerts or buying T-shirts. Some songs also aren't available to everyone but through the internet so it kind of makes it rough. There is some adaptation now though to buy songs for cheap so piracy this way may become a lot less as time goes on but if the RIAA keeps bullying people, it depends. They screw over artists so much as it is and artists make more off of concerts. The artists are adapting by increasing concert costs and merchandise but the record companies can't and in a way I find it as an odd sense of justice for treating artists so poorly. Also, the laws on internet radio stations has been ridiculous and it makes it very hard for people to pay to play music for others etc. Books and television programs etc - I don't see why here either people can't download books because one thing I will say is that I always enjoy a -real- book far better than reading several 100 pages on line. I also enjoy having real manga but sometimes I can't get it here so have to rely on sources. The same thing goes for some comics or other stuff. They can be hard to get and sometimes I'd like a preview before having to buy off Amazon.com or something. Also, for tv programs, some places have already gotten smart like Adult Swim and Comedy Central and let you view their shows. Closing down sites that let people watch shows is just lame to me. If those two channels could adapt, then why aren't others instead of harassing people? OS and Programs - The problem I have with these is that they are so outlandishly expensive half the time. The copyright thing has gone crazy with some programs insisting that you have to buy more than one package if you own more than one computer. If I already paid 200 bucks or even 20 bucks, why should I have to pay the price again or even a cut price to have the same thing installed on another computer I possess? It's a terrible waste of money. I do pay once for things but I do have a problem with paying more than once. I would say that people, if they were adaptable, could really get a hold on a lot of piracy by simply using logic. Yes, some people will always take advantage of things but in the end, the vast majority of people wouldn't be drawn to piracy if things were just more reasonable. I'm not 'advocating' piracy because I know it's wrong, but at the same time, I do see why it has become such a wide spread problem and the cure is for these corps to think instead of trying to suffocate it out. Address the problems and piracy would lessen.
People are trying to do things to stop it, or at least are trying to take action. The problem is that the people who do the aforementioned are usually all over the place. The government can't just declare war on their own people, or put them all in jail. That would be 3/4 of the population of most countries right there. The only logical way to stop this is to shut down these websites. They have already made it illegal here in Canada, but the problem is people still do it, and the police can't just go to every house and check.
As many other members have said; it depends. If you go download but never pay to support a company/artist then that's just wrong. In terms of pirating music, I also agree sometimes. Sometimes the price of one album is ridiculous when you want just one song. But if I like a band and I like what they have to offer, I make the effort to own it as it represents my support for *insert hyped-up band here*. The government isn't doing a very good job but what can they do, really? They can't exactly crash into every building/house/apartment and arrest people for piracy. They can't give everyone a massive fine and a smack on the head cause that'll greatly affect the economy and most likely put thousands of people out of work/school.
I don't have too much to contribute to this discussion, except that I download music of video games, (Crush 40, Utada) because I cannot get it elsewhere. I feel that this song should be shown here though, as it adds a satirical look at it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32wmepTVM3I
Bleh stupid topic of discussion. Piracy began because programs and media were too expensive and the companies that produced them, instead of making their product more accessible by lowering the prices, increased the price so they wouldn't have a profit loss, thus forcing more people to illegally download programs/media. This problem could have been easily solved if the companies had made the better long term move and cut down the prices. But yeah I am for piracy for what it's worth. If you consider how much free advertisement a product gets being pirated, Photoshop for instance, if someone dls PS and actually becomes good because of it and decides to go with PS related job, that person will need to buy a copy which costs a pretty penny, or when you dl a song, you like it and it makes you buy the whole album...etc. I think even the corporate suits get some benefit out of it. Yeah I feel bad when I watch that or this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LkWKvMCzqA but then I go http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBoOLR7WoN8 and realize how awesome I am
I'm not so sure is it's okay and if it's not. Somethings shouldn't be for free on the internet like certain programs and movies but music, well I think that's all right. But that's just my opinion. For trying to stop it, I think it would take too much time and possibly money the government may not have or want to give because there are other things that are above Internet Piracy on their list of things to do.
Internet Piracy isn't 'O.K.', but it's not like even one person is truely innocent of even downloading one thing illigaly. Even if they didn't know. Well, I can't stand Movie Piracy. My family members watch pirated movies on the internet. The site clames to be legal, but I'm a total sceptic. Music Piracy.... Well... I'm 100% guilty of it. Sorry. I buy CDs of the bands I love, but the rest, I won't buy a CD of an artist who only had one song on their CD that I like. *rolls eyes* I'm guilty. I know I'm doing wrong with the music. Slap the handcuffs on me right now, hehe.
i do it...but my family can't afford to buy enough cd's. and plus i wouldnt buy a WHOLE cd. because i mostly like 2-7 songs on an album (depending on length and artist) i think itunes is great, but that puts album sales down and peoples goals to get a platinum album go down. I mean, if I could afford money to buy one, I would buy one...but I really need my money for WAY more important things. what would be funny is if the person who started this topic was an FBI investigator in disguise xD
well it's pretty much stealing, but i suppose that people in teh US aren't punsihed for it very often is because it is seen as a "victimless crime", you know one of those crimes that EVERYONE does like jaywalking and etc. i'm not sure how much the record companies are really suffering or the artists, but i don't really pirate that much, i only pirate when i can't find what i'm looking for anywhere else. i mean, it's wrong but in the US, only about 100 people get caught each year whereas in Europe and Asia, the laws are more enforced. i say it's wrong, but you could still do it but just don't go around thinking you CANNOT get caught because about 100 people each year get caught in the US, you could be one of them, you never know.
