• 𝔄𝔩𝔩𝔞𝔫@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    I’m amused at these statements these ‘wannabe’ pirates make to justify piracy. A smart person would pirate quietly without letting the world know or justifying it.

    I know why I do it & I don’t want some validation, internet points, 2 minutes of fame to sound / look cool.

      • TommySalami@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        Theres some truth to this, but a lot of people do use this as a shield against the general cultural acceptance that piracy is stealing or otherwise morally underhanded. I do it, but I don’t have any illusion I’m one of the activists. I just get indignant and refuse to pay someone for content or entertainment who I think is damaging to the medium or predatory in general. I feel like if I really wanted to make a statement, I just wouldn’t consume their work at all – but life is short and I want to have my cake and eat it too.

        • Cabrio@lemmy.world
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          2 years ago

          It’s possible to do both, I consume plenty of pirated media simply because it’s unavailable due to pathetic capitalist imposed digital distribution limitations and lack of equitable paid access.

          I also consume other pirated media because I wouldn’t spend my resources for access because I don’t yet know the value of the content and won’t pay just for an opportunity to be disappointed, been there enough times to have learned that lesson. I’m happy to spend my time to find out your media sucks, but not my money, because that’s also my time with the addition that I’ve put actual effort into converting it into fungible assets.

          I also deliberately pirate media that I would pay for and do understand the value of, both because I can’t always afford to purchase said product from a company making billions of dollars in exploitative corporate profits and because I have no interest in caring about that over my own personal satisfaction in life.

          • FactorSD@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            2 years ago

            Wouldn’t it achieve more to boycott things instead? If you won’t even give up watching a tv show, you aren’t an activist you are just complaining on the internet.

    • quirzle@kbin.social
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      2 years ago

      I don’t want some validation, internet points, 2 minutes of fame to sound / look cool.

      No, you just need everyone to know you don’t care about sounding/looking cool to sound/look cool. Totally different.

    • Compactor9679@lemm.ee
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      2 years ago

      “A smart person would pirate quietly without letting the world know” While posting “I do it & I don’t want some validation…”

      • Cabrio@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        Hypocrisy doesn’t make them incorrect. If you’re going to be a pedant get better at it.

    • Goob@kbin.social
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      2 years ago

      I think some still feel some level of guilt about it and naturally, whether consciously or subconsciously, rationalize it with ideas like this. I guess the progression from that is posting about it to show that “yes I pirate, but I’m not a bad person because rationalization”.

      • Uriel-238@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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        2 years ago

        Pirating is like church sins, less about avoiding causing harm and more about preserving hierarchy and tradition, even though abuses and theft by intellectual property holders cause way more harm and economic cost than infringement, by multiple orders of magnitude.

  • what@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    Until we live in a world where people have equal access to information and essential technology piracy is a moral imperative.

    Should something which costs a few hours worth of work in the developed word cost three weeks worth of work in a less developed country, just to make a publishing company worth tens or hundreds of millions of dollars a few extra bucks? Of course not!

    Every other argument is a moot point to me. If I hadn’t pirated Photoshop and other software when I was a poor kid I wouldn’t have the six figure career I have today. The ultrarich steal from us every day in more ways than I can count. Maybe when they start being held accountable I will start caring about their bottom line.

  • LeHappStick@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    Here I am wondering why there is still a downvote button in the YouTube comments… it does nothing!

    • Poob@lemmy.ca
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      2 years ago

      The same reason that a lot of crosswalks have fake buttons. So you feel like you have control.

          • faladorable@lemmy.world
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            2 years ago

            true, it definitely depends where you live. If you’re in the US then it’s definitely a case of most don’t work, because most elevators at this point have been made after 1990, but if you live somewhere else then it can definitely be a case of some, or even none

            but that said there definitely are functioning crosswalk buttons that work so being pedantic about some, most, etc, is irrelevant because as long as there are any that dont work its relevant to the topic

    • samus12345@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      The downvotes are still counted, just not displayed. You can re-enable it via browser extensions.

      • ultimate_question@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        Pretty sure those extensions all use some sort of estimate methodology, the dislikes aren’t available via any apis or anything

          • ultimate_question@lemmy.world
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            2 years ago

            I’ve never used one myself but I’ve heard talk of various ones either A) taking the public (real) like number and extrapolating the dislikes based on an old like/dislike ratio available for the video from before the dislike removal (doesn’t work on new videos) or B) the extension includes a feature where the user can like/dislike the video within the extension and then the dislike number is extrapolated using the public (real) like number and the extension’s private like/dislike ratio. In either case the number is not connected to the “real” dislike count that YouTube would have access to internally

        • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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          2 years ago

          some sort of estimate methodology

          Hey GPT4 watch this video and tell me what its ratio of likes to dislikes would be

    • BeegYoshi@lemm.ee
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      2 years ago

      Actually it’s worse than nothing. Youtube promotes comments based on engagement, so while only an upvote increases the tally, voting at all still makes it more visible.

  • crunchpaste@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 years ago

    Do we really need excuses for pirating media?

    I pirate movies because I think digital access to them is overpriced, goes to the copyright holder instead of the creators, it’s convenient and most importantly because I can.

    I can’t pirate going to the cinema, nor can I afford to build my own, therefore I gladly pay to have a seat and enjoy a movie there.

    Edit: I thought this may be relevant to the movies example I gave. I don’t think movie studios, giving nothing back to society after massive profits are the ones we should debate the morals of stealing with.

  • TheLurker@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    I just want to point out to anyone who thinks this is a viable legal defence, It isn’t.

    You would be considered to be stealing from the rights holder. The rights holder authorises your use of their property when you pay the license fee. If you don’t pay the license fee you are considered to be stealing their property.

    Just to be clear, I agree with the sentiment of this post. Legally speaking though, this defence would be cut down in moments.

    • masquenox@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      I just want to point out to anyone who thinks this is a viable legal defence, It isn’t.

      Of course it isn’t. Copyright laws were written by the same kind of people who decided that corporations gets to “people.”

    • neo (he/him)@lemmy.comfysnug.space
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      2 years ago

      Legally speaking they’re not going after you solely for piracy pretty much ever, at least not in America, unless you’re making a profit from it.

  • Sentinian@lemmy.one
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    2 years ago

    Can we not become subreddit by posting this shitty screenshots trying to justify our reasons? Just share your media and enjoy it.

    • _number8_@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      what do you mean trying to justify? discussion of shitty anti consumer tactics in digital media is perfectly valid

      • Sentinian@lemmy.one
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        2 years ago

        A screenshot of some comment is not really discussion though. This is a pretty base level understanding of the concept, which is why I say it’s more cope then actual discussion.

        • denemdenem@lemmy.world
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          2 years ago

          This is one of the most popular posts this week here with more than 4 HUNDRED comments. I don’t know what you view as a discussion but I think this was a pretty successful attempt at creating one.

          • Sentinian@lemmy.one
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            2 years ago

            I will say this thread had way more discussion then I was expecting when I originally posted this. My point about the screenshot still stands, I would much prefer we discuss something new related to sharing media, instead of recycling the same discussion about why its justified to copyright infringe.

  • MisterFrog@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    I think this logic is silly.

    Employers don’t own you, so witholding wages for services you provided isn’t stealing. Getting a haircut and not paying isn’t stealing.

    I think the better justification is: rights holders make it a pain in the arse to access content affordably, so fuck you, just going to steal it.

    • mineapple@feddit.de
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      2 years ago

      You’re only partly right. You example services. Of course it is not possible to own services. Piracy is only applicable to products. The point of the Twitter guy is, that companies intentionally stop selling their software etc. as products to sell you the same thing as a service, so that you cannot own it.

      • XenGi@feddit.de
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        2 years ago

        Not only that. Remember when Sony said that you don’t own the PS4 you bought for several hundred bucks but just purchased the right to use it as intended so you’re not allowed to tinker with it and for example install another operating system or figure out how their security works.

        That’s what is meant by buying is not owning anymore.

        I could go on about cars with subscriptions for heated seats that are already installed but not turned on etc.

  • snor10@lemm.ee
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    2 years ago

    Our current system of copyright is flawed and only serves the interests of corporations.

    • matey@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 years ago

      The real friends were the piracy we undertook along the way.

      Remember: friends come and go, but pirated media is forever (as long as you have good backups).

    • Mango@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      That’s my YouTube comment. You and so many others are making me feel like a badass. 😎

  • Starchiver@programming.dev
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    2 years ago

    This is what I’ve been saying. We don’t even own digital products, all it takes is a server to be taken down or an account to be lost and all you bought is taken away. Pirating also can’t be stealing because we aren’t taking something away from someone else, other people are not deprived of the chance to have this just because we downloaded it.

  • Retirix_YT@lemmy.ml
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    2 years ago

    To be completely frank, I couldn’t care less if it’s stealing or not. They should sell their shit for cheaper if their companies care so much, which I’m not sure they really do.

    • ChatGPT@lemmings.worldB
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      2 years ago

      As an artificial intelligence, I don’t have personal opinions or feelings. However, I can provide an analysis of the argument. This assertion appears to be examining the complex relationship between ownership, copyright, and piracy. While it’s true that purchasing certain types of media doesn’t confer full ownership rights in the traditional sense (you cannot replicate and distribute a DVD you bought, for instance), it doesn’t necessarily justify piracy. From a legal perspective, piracy is considered a form of theft as it involves the unauthorized use or distribution of copyrighted material. The argument could be seen as an attempt to redefine or question these understandings, but that doesn’t necessarily change how they’re treated by the law.