Pluralistic: “If buying isn’t owning, piracy isn’t stealing”

I used to have a moral objection to piracy, I thought that if a piece of media is good enough that I enjoy it then the people that made it deserve to be paid for their work.

I'm increasingly of the opinion that even if I do pay for something there is no guarantee that the people that worked on it will get their fair share and paying for media is increasingly a worse user experience than piracy.

Piracy isn't stealing anyway. You're not removing the data from the original owner.

This post seems to be largely about the value of product ownership and the harm that DRM brings to the end user, and does a great job at making that point. However, the title seems to have caused a different discussion to spawn in the comments about whether piracy of digital content is justified. This is just a casual reminder to read the article before replying in the comments.

If you can own nothing, then nothing is theft.

IP in general is a very difficult idea to support. In theory, it's supposed to reward innovation, but in practice it results in stagnation and price gouging.

This shit again? have people never heard of lending? the thing you get to use for a short duration at a fraction of the cost to buy it outright or create it yourself? The thing you don't actually own and have to give it back? renting?

is this some kind of alternate universe where people think they own every movie or game simply by paying $$. is this kindergarten mathematics? and this is coming from people who can't code for shit and don't realize the scale of things bts.

Get a physical copy that doesn't require internet activation then, assholes.

but but but… that requires actual physical movement and getting out of my basement. 😭

Granted, I only skimmed through the article, and overall I agree with, but that headline is a nonsensical statement. This coming from someone who pirates every movie and show that isn't on Disney+. Whether you own, rent, or lend, you still had to pay for access to it. Piracy circumvents that. I don't own the rental car. If I drove off with it, is that not stealing?

There are plenty of ways to justify piracy. There's a few good reasons listed in the article. I do it because switching between a dozen streaming services is too inconvenient. But even putting morality aside, that headline is just plain dumb, it's illogical.

Edited in case this came on too harsh

If it's not theft then it's fraud I guess

Some are more equal than others