Pros: Free shit
Cons: A bunch of idiots run around trying to justify their criminal ways and starting random Internet campaigns that go nowhere whilst looking stupid in front of everyone.

Is using library a crime too?

Nice copypasta.

Your forgetting the part where the person who pirated whatever probably wasn't going to buy whatever he was pirating anyways.

1 download does not equal 1 lost sale.

1/10 I replied to the copypasta

>Can we have a reasonable thread about the positives and negatives of piracy without trolls shitting it up?
>I'd say [piracy] makes you worse than a murderer

>You stole something and that's against the law
>Stealing information
>Stealing 1s and 0s
>Against the law

The problem lies in that a copy is easily created with negligent amount of resources required, you're not taking someones literal sweat and brow so it's much easier to try justify such a stance.

Real world products derive value from 1. their physical makeup, 2. the labour that went into producing them, 3. utility and 4. perceived value. Virtual goods lack 1 (although you can argue about bits and bytes, they are still negligible) and while 2 is applicable, once it's created, it's effortless to mass produce and the associated cost become negligible, 3 and 4 are subjective so I won't mention them.

The problem lies in 2 and it's the reason why piracy is copyright infringement and not theft since a loss of a virtual good does not deprive anyone of utility or value, you just make another copy at minimal cost therefore lacking the value argument.

>I'd say it makes you worse than a murderer since murder and theft are illegal.
You smell like a corporate shill.

You wouldn't pirate healthcare

Piracy isn't a technology topic, it's a matter for the subject of piracy's board, as the effects of piracy are different depending on the market. If you want to talk about the matter of piracy in general, it is an ethical issue.

The only way you could somehow link piracy to technology, is if this was a thread about the technology behind it.

When I think it's okay:

- When you don't have any/enough money for luxuries other than internet connection (there's no money for you to give them in the first place, it's no different if you have a digital copy of the game)
- When you're going to play 30 minutes or so to see if it's any good (applies to video games only)
- When you cannot buy the product from retail stores online or IRL

When I think it's not okay:

- You spend your money on other luxuries and have no more money for games/music/movies
- You have enough money for everything
- Any other explanation

There are always exceptions to the rule, but that's my general stance on Piracy. I torrent and everything, I break my own rules on when it's okay or not, but I won't bullshit myself or others and say it's justified. I know I'm stealing, you know I'm stealing, but it doesn't really hurt them in the way they complain. If they take a 1 million profit loss out of a 500 million profit, I'm not going to shed any tears.

The rich live too well for me to care if they can't afford their 2nd private jet.

>Modern Warfare is getting a sequel every year and that's because they need to do that or go bankrupt.

The game is ok, but the community totally ruin it for people.

Pros: Cool shooter, alright looking graphics, decent gameplay

Cons: Shit community, shit community, holy fuck this community is fucking retarded.

>>19285566
I wouldn't, because it's free in Canada.

The good:
When you don't want buyer's remorse on shit that turned out to be shit but had icing on the shit. So when you try out the shit, you know it looked good but shit is just shit.

To try before you buy, really, if Bulletstorm was good, I'd have lumped my cash on it for multiplayer and stuff but considering that it was shoddily coded and in the end turned out to be a total let down, I was /glad/ I torrented it.

For movies that you're just going to watch once and forget tomorrow. No really, unless it's memorable, I'm not dropping in more than $10 for something of 60 minutes.

Oh also, Torrenting =//= piracy, piracy is when you sell copies of said torrents and make a profit through that. Torrenting and sharing for free is another story. If you buy a music CD, shove it in your computer, take the mp3 files and give it to a friend, will the cops have reason to bust down your door and send you off to jail/court for doing that? No, if you were to have made a copy and sell that, then they'd have reason to fuck you in the butt.

So really, isn't 'piracy' just getting virtual copies of the said CD?

You convinced me, OP. From now on, I will stop pirating games and start buying legal used copies.

All programs, movies, music and all other kinds of computer reproducible media are, essentially, just huge numbers. The claim that you can't share a movie is the same thing as a claim that there is a particular number that you can't tell anyone. You can buy it, you can read it, but no sharing. Some numbers are restricted while others are free.

This is -bullshit-.

Say whatever you want about minimal cost of copying and whatever, restricting data sharing is wrong. Sharing movies may be illegal because government is a bunch of sellouts, but it isn't in any way wrong.

>>19285452
>MML3 was cancelled due to piracy

>Cons: You stole something
Piracy != stealing.

>>19285648
woah woah woah stop right there. you got healthcare for free? Murder is against the law and so is thievery. I'm not saying they're the same, but the facts speak for themselves. You may not be killing a person, but you're killing a sale from a company that worked hard to give you a quality product. I'd say it makes you worse than a murderer since murder and theft are illegal. And yes, renting games is no different from piracy save for legality. Just fucking spend some money for once and support the company you love!

>>19285786
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeTybKL1pM4

don't worry, it's just underaged people and so guys living in Arabia and Russia who pirate all the time. Most of the people I know here in Austria are very honest ones and would never even think of pirating.
Assuming nobody on /g/ is underaged, non-christian, Russian or Arabian, we pretty much have no piracy here.

>>19285758

What if movies were sold on film reels with analog magnetic tape audio? Would that be worth paying for? Would you consider the price only the sum of the film and tape's physical parts and not including any of the work that went into making the movie?

Pros: I got shit free and will never get caught
Cons: nothing
This thread is bad

>>19285786
if it's about software, it IS stealing

>>19285657
>For movies that you're just going to watch once and forget tomorrow. No really, unless it's memorable, I'm not dropping in more than $10 for something of 60 minutes.

$10 is about the price of admission to a theater. Also, have you never heard of movie rentals?

Also, move to Japan. Movies are like $50 a piece here, minimum.

It's not steal or against the law.

Digital things are not real so you can steal them

law argument? just motivates me to keep it a secret.

moral argument? morals are subjective.

>>19285797
I'm not saying you shouldn't buy things. Of course, if you feel the product is worth your money, pay and support. It is only a natural thing to do -- people worked hard to produce it so they deserve a reward.

What I'm saying is, it's wrong to involve law in this.

It's your choice whether to support makers and not choosing to support should not make you a criminal.

>>19285758

As far as your argument goes, I agree with you mostly, however...

Torrenting...

Music - Yeah, go ahead if you can't find the music in a shop for a reasonable price, £4-5 or $5-6 is reasonable (An hour's worth of enjoyment is valued at £2 by me, an Album generally gets 2-3 playthroughs in the first week)

Movies - If you're pirating them before they come onto DvD, go ahead, cinema prices are insane and should be boycotted. However, if you're buying after the DvD comes out and it's £4 or so, pirating seems wrong. The case is, however, that DvDs still cost around £8 new, fuck that.

Games - Tricky one, it depends. If you're going to pirate it, go ahead, I won't stop you. Just don't come crying to me about how it's justified or how the "man" caught you in the process or some bull.

there's a lot of other media/software to cover in piracy, but for the most part, piracy should be limited to those who simply cannot afford the same luxuries that others can.

>>19285813
see
>>19285793

Piracy =/= theft
Piracy =/= file sharing

File sharing =/= theft
File sharing = copyright infringement.

Intellectual property is a ridiculous concept. Until it can hold water I'm not interested in what moral fags think.

>>19285796
>http://warezchristian.com/
I really did fucking laugh out lout as soon as I found this on google.

What about people that give bad reviews of movies and games? Surely they are hurting the industry because someone who read or heard the review might have otherwise paid to watch that movie or play that game.

>>19285846
You are absolutely correct. I agree with your reasoning almost completely, even though I'm Russian and "the man" does not come for you in Russia at all. But you're looking at this from moral standpoint while my post was about legal standpoint. All I'm saying is, do not involve law in this. It should be your choice whether to buy a shiny DVD and and enjoy the possession of it, put it on the shelf and all that, or to go to the cinema with friends have have fun watching movie, or get it for free and just watch it. And the latter is there not because you are entitled to everything, but because restricting access to something that doesn't exist (a number) is wrong.

>Posting is troll thread
>Don't give a shit

I won't try to justify pirating. it is "stealing" in a loose sense of the word. But then again I don't give a shit. If I thoroughly enjoy a game I will buy it. When I pirated Minecraft and got 50 hours of fun out of it I decided it was worth supporting, so I did. Same goes for Terraria and Project Zombiod.

Most of what I pirate is old and I can't find it anywhere. Except music. Or I can't get it at all, like anime coming out in Japan.

In the end pirating is illegal, there's not much around that. The question here: "Is it moral?" Well I don't give a shit, that's how I feel.

copying = hey check out this book, this is awesome. do you want to read it? fine i'll copy it

or

hey, that's an awesome book can i read it? oh you still reading it? ok copy it for me then

while

stealing = holy shit! where is my book?

Let me tell you my story. I used to be an independent developer. Then someone posted my software on a file sharing forum and overnight my sales plummeted. I asked nicely before filing a DMCA take down notice. The site ended up having its url taken away and the response of its members was to destroy my website, phone me with death threats and constantly harass me.

I'm now working in a call center and I face losing my house, all because a bunch of kids couldn't pay a few dollars to use something I worked hard on. How anyone can defend this is beyond me.

>>19285946
My step brother was locked in because of copyright infringement and died a horrible death in a prison. How you can support DMCA and all those other ridiculous laws is beyond me...

>>19285946
Exactly, all pirates are obviously people who have never designed a single line of code in their life. I am okay with people stealing media files like music, pictures, and video, but not software. Somebody obviously had to work very hard on all those lines of code to get the game/rpgoram working and deserve to be paid for it.

>>19285946
What forum was it ?

>>19285998
If you followed the Stallmanian model this would never have happened

Free software doesn't mean you don't get paid

This is a horrible self-derivative thread full of pre-university children that is half the shell of the whiff that it was originally vaguely dreamt to be.

And I thus condemn it.

>>19286002
Yeah, like I'm going to tell you. You'll just ask them who managed to take you down and reduce you to a pathetic foreign URL and they'll attack again.

>without trolls shitting it up
>OP is a troll
>oh the irony

When I was just a lad looking for my true vocation
My father said ‘Now son, this choice deserves deliberation
Though you could be a doctor or perhaps a financier
My boy why not consider a more challenging career

Hey ho ho

>>19286125

It's funny how piracy stops being such a big moral dilemma the moment you get a real job and receive your first paycheck.
Fucking miracles.

ITT: Troll faggot OP

right or wrong, the technology is here and it isn't going away, the markets have to adapt to it


stop being fucking luddites

Digital content providers like netflix and itune's need to step their game up. Every private tracker I'm on is 10x better then both of them and until they get there shit together I'm not going to go out of my way to get worse content that cost money. Give me a fucking break. 30$ for a blue ray dvd that I can only watch on one TV in my house and not my phone, laptop, or desktop. Get the fuck out.

>>19286215

and until they do I'm going to keep using torrents...so should everyone

Fact:

If not for "piracy", Western Civilization would not exist as we know it.

During the Middle Ages, countless Christian Monks copying Roman and Greek manuscripts managed to preserve the accumulated knowledge of antiquity.

If not for their acts of "piracy", the great thinkers of the Renaissance would have had no Classic works from which to draw their inspiration. There would have been no Renaissance and, as a direct result, no Age of Enlightenment. Ultimately, "piracy" saved Western Civilization from the Middle Ages.

As inconvenient as it may be to acknowledge, "piracy" is good for civilization.

>>19286259

Did I just kill the thread with this?

I mean, seriously? Nobody has a response?

pirating indie games made by small teams really pisses me off , these guys arent looknig at millions of sales, they barely make back what its costs them to produce so they cant even afford proper piracy protection (like that matters)


pirate call of booty 9 clone by all means, but dont shit on the little guy with the original indie game.

my indie game of the year is LIMBO, an incredible 2D platform game thats like nothing ive seen.

>>19286377
Well I know fuckers that pirated Indie Bundles ... yes the ones you could get for 0.01$.

Still, games I had most fun are indie.
Amnesia
Atom Zombie Smasher
Braid
Chime
Eufloria
Osmos
Nation Red
and fucking VVVVVVV

>>19285452
The difference between piracy and theft is that in theft you are taking something away from the supplier; in piracy the supplier is actually unaffected. Now, of course that's bad for the supplier, because goods need to be sold in order for the supplier to turn a profit.

But the problem I see is that businesses suffering from piracy simply have poor business models. Products should be made that generate revenue and when a product isn't generating revenue the business model is flawed, regardless of the reason for the lack of cash flow. If a business is too big and its overheads exceed its revenue then it is a bad business, because a business must fit the market, and digital copying is an unavoidable element of the world as it is. So simply, digital media businesses must scale down to a point where they are feasible. If they are not, they are a bad business. If people are put out of work they just have to find jobs in other areas. Industries rise and fall with technology. Sword smiths and fletchers would have been out of work when guns were popularised, and that's a shame for them but times change. Times change and the status quo will never remain.

I pirate games just to test them, then if i enjoy it and if i think the developper shouldtake my spongebobs, i buy it.

>>19286377
GOD DAMNIT USE SPOILER IMAGES

>>19286424
You can be my slave, I`m not taking anything from you.

This is OK with your "logic"

>>19286435
It's annoying how much /g/ becomes /v/ during the summer months...

>>19286399
Add Beat hazard to your list, pop in some dubstep or whateverthefuck and woahh

>>19286450
Have it, too flashy for my eyes.

But quite fun.

Oh and recettear, capitalism bitches.

>>19286446
woah... I thought we were on /v/... trippy.

>>19286431
This. Even though the PC version of GTA IV and the expansions can be bought for 25 euros, I ain't giving a cent to goddamn R*, they fucked up the PC release and don't deserve our money.

>Copy digital files
>Break the law
How the fuck do you even copywrite 1s and 0s
That said I only pirate anime.

>>19285946
Alright, not trying to sound like an ass here, however: You should have had other means to sustain yourself other than your independent software development. The fact that you are working in a call center AFTER THE FACT and are risking losing your house is your own fucking fault. That would be like me trying to make a living on an iPhone app. While possible, you should ALWAYS have a plan B.
>>19286087
This statement further discredits your claim.

>>19286444
[RAGE]
People CHOOSE how to invest their time and effort. It's an investment like any other. If the investment doesn't pay off it's a poor investment. If people aren't turning a profit they need to change their business.

>>19286574
By that logic, it's the fault of a taxi driver for not handcuffing you to the seat if you take a journey and don't pay.

A lot of people claim to pirate to test the product.
With movies there is no way around this.
With music, there are usually samples.
With video games, they had demos, of which it seems there are less and less as time goes on. Why?

I pirate all the time, but later I often buy the works I enjoyed.

People who think it should all be free and never consider supporting the authors are idiots who obviously never made anything themselves. Making music, movies or software takes time. You can't put out the same quality if you only do that in your free time, while working at a regular job.

Piracy:
I only have positives for indivdual noncommercial piracy:

It's how large scale entertainment with recordings always worked. You wouldn't even want any of the artist's works or become a fan unless you freely sampled his / her stuff. This sample obviously needs to be copied freely for everyone involved, or someone actually looses something.

Also, IP rights are a SOCIETY-granted rights. Not really reflected in any laws of nature. Walt Disney and other companies definitely changed it beyond recognizing, though, and corrupt politicans agreed with that - I do not see it as "in the interest of society" at all that copyright lasts as long as it does and all that.

You could say that society is still more or less running on the consensus from back then, but the law has been twisted.


Commercial piracy, we can probably agree, is something meaningless to society and doesn't need to exist- but again, one might note the copyright durations are absurdly extended from the original times...

Piracy

positives: I'm poor and don't have to break into your home, or rob you on the street to see a movie or buy a book.

Negatives: Poor people are becoming self aware, so we're going to kill you all eventually.

here's a scenario
>heard black ops is shit
>want to buy black ops, but won't until i've tried it
>options being either play at a friend's house or pirate it
>have no friends, pirate it
>find that i do/don't like it, buy/don't buy it
either way it's totally okay.
but with music, who gives a shit? those faggots make millions off very minimal work. i'm not taking food out of their mouths. i just don't want to spend $100,000 to fill up my ipod

Don't have money to pay for text books for college classes, no one talks to me because I've got a small penis.

Download the ebook versions online save $300

negatives?

there are none fuck textbook prices.

>>19286596
But people do pay for taxis. Taxis make money. I 1 in x fares does a runner the investment is still sound.

Troll thread... I'll bite

The laws state that only stealing physical copies is theft. That is why more and more judges are ruling out cases when the mpaa sues random people. There is no justifiable evidence that you stole that since downloading isn't even illegal, sharing is. And what did we learn im school ladies and gentlemen??? Sharing is caring, just remember, sharing is a federal crime punishable by I don't know and something because everytime I buy a DVD I have to watch ten minutes of a guy running through dark alleys trying to steal a car. Hey, if I could download a car. Bet your dumb fucking ass id download it

pros: the internet, with the advent of myspace/soundcloud/bandcamp, allows easier entry to the music industry for upcoming artists.

free stickers usually

cons: with this comes attention whoring and bands promoting their bad music shamelessly via twitter and tumblr

Pirating without actually buying any of the author's/artist's work is a huge middle finger. Although if I was down on money, and I really wanted something, I'd pirate it because I can justify my theft. Really it's a moral issue, because a majority of the people who own the product have bought it, and the people who pirated it weren't likely to pay for it in the first place.

You don`t pay for game.

You pay for developer time spend on making it.

But seems unemployed kids here don`t get it.

>>19286640
It doesn't matter either way. Art stuff works fine with only protection of the artist against commercial usage or reproduction.

The rest should be able to privately do their own copy from any sources or support the original artist, as they please.

Alternatively you can have short expiration dates (6 years or so, in modern times) and everyone pays until art expires.

That's the sort of law that keeps us entertained and any artists worth their money in business. Yes, society actually just wants to be entertained and so on, ergo the intellectual property laws - but it should and does not have any interest to be milked for cash two life times long (such date to be extended whenever mickey mouse might get into public domain, again - heh).

I'll pirate just to try something, but I'm rather selective on what I decide to spend my money on. If it's a good game/album/movie I'll buy it. If it's shit, why do they deserve my money for making shit? because they worked hard on it? does that mean every pile of shit someone worked hard on deserves to live on only to make more shit?

But I totally agree with OP, it is stealing still nomatter how you look at it and nomatter how you justify it.

>>19285452
>Can we have a reasonable thread about the positives and negatives of piracy without trolls shitting it up?
>shits up the thread before it starts
4/10

So lets say everyone im the world , every single capable person decides to download a shit load of games music eBooks everything. Is there enough jail space to lick everyone up?

>>19286752
> it is stealing still nomatter how you look at it and nomatter how you justify it.

No. It is copyright infringement.

Copyright being originally a law to prevent corporations with copying power ripping off artists, and to ensure artists get paid for a while.

Now something which was extended and expanded whenever the interests of Walt Disney corporation and others.

Definitely not something to successfully sue regular people over for hundreds of thousands of dollars, or hold the art of generations captive in. It's not supposed to last even one generation, dumbasses.

Stealing means the victim doesn't have access to it anymore. They do, I just have a copy too. I don't want to go into some big political rant, for me it's just because it's easier than buying shit, and free of course (not "the other meaning," I mean free beer).

Pros: free
cons: faggots who make up bullshit about how you are stealing money from a billion dollar company.
Oh shit, they're gonna go out of business if you download that game worth $50
Pirating, a victimless crime

Pros: I get something for free, it hurts no one, I potentially help promote the product.
Cons: None

So why the fuck wouldn't I do it?

>>19286798
>This
It's a well known fact that people will still have jobs. It's just that the people running the company earn a little less.
And all their statistics are wrong. If you weren't going to pay anyway then they have lost no money.

>>19285946
>few dollars
>lost all your shit
Lol

>>19285793
goddamn this
those rabbits have got shit figured out

>>19285946
>Selling proprietary software
>Upset that he is almost homeless

If there was a way to download fuel, as in gasoline. I'd be on that, all day filling up gallons for my own personal gain
I wouldn't share either.

So the expendables came out, mpiaa decided to sue a shit ton of people, get the ISPs involved and pass new partnerships for ISPs to help them by snitching on their customers. One month later, judge in Canada throws away case, "an ip address is not a person" a month after that, judge in Europe does same. Only one left is the one in the us. Then about three weeks ago judge throws out case saying that most of these cases can't stand im court because they are out of reach and jurisdiction.


I WOULD SERIOUSLY LOVE TO SEE THE MPUAA SUE 280,000 PEOPLE IN EACH INDIVIDUAL STATE OVER THE NEXT 300 YEARS. BECAUSE THATS HOW LONG OTS GOING TO TAKE.

>sue me for downloading
>2011

I sure hope you guys have jurisdiction.

>>19286854
>I WOULD SERIOUSLY LOVE TO SEE THE MPUAA SUE 280,000 PEOPLE IN EACH INDIVIDUAL STATE OVER THE NEXT 300 YEARS. BECAUSE THATS HOW LONG OTS GOING TO TAKE.

They know that themselves and aim for control over the internet instead. The abilty to shut down any infrastructure and laws that force and encourage ISPs to disconnect people that (might) commit copyright infringements. FUD and denial of infrastructure will probably help.

That this also violates human rights to be treated as member of society, have right to communication and assemly (excluding the currently prevalent online bits is out of the question) is apparently irrelevant to the copyright owners and their lobbied or outright hireling legislators right now.


The sane direction for society is exactly going the other way. Weaken copyright's influences on private entities, weaken its duration in general, get back to a sane base. We know it will help society and really almost not change anything for artists. Just the fatass companies that somehow get to milk the few successful products for many decades (for a real artist, it needs to have been worht the effort within less than a handful of years, or they're likely out of money and out of stores).

Why hasn't anyone acknowledged/responded to my point here?

>>19286259

It's not a troll, I'm completely serious. Piracy saved Western Civilization.

You can't just ignore that fact.

>>19286980
Okay, acknowledged, whatever. It's not really interesting to talk about that.

>>19286854
Thing is, **AA don't have to sue everybody. They pretty fine with suing just a few people for the collective "damages", which also gives the impression that it's extremely risky, probably intending to deter people from copyright infringement (not that it's working).

>renting games is no different from piracy

You have no clue about what you are talking about.

When a video store gets anything to rent, be it movies or video games, they pay HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS per video/game for the rights to rent it. Usually 300+, even more for some AAA titles, per copy.

They are not losing money regardless of the lies they say. Some rent and buy a copy if they like it. Some don't, but they are still making a huge profit from selling rights to rent, OTHERWISE THEY WOULDN'T DO IT. THEY HAVE TO GIVE THE RIGHTS TO RENT FOR A RENTAL COMPANY TO PUT IT ON THEIR SHELVES.

>>19286980

Because it has absolutely no relevance to what modern "piracy" is.

>>19286980


Well copyright laws didn't exist in thosenages. Neither did the MPIAA so.

There is no argument for the people im this thread.

What they're arguing about is practically copyright laws. And how they protect PHYSICAL media. Not DIGITAL.

>>19287021
*They're pretty fine

>>19287033

This.

Studying and re-use of ancient wisdom has nothing to do with acquiring entertainment while skipping the fee.

Megaman Legends 3 got cancalled because Megaman is a shitty dead franchise and Capcom did a mercy killing.

On the subject, I too wonder why people can't just get jobs and buy stuff. but then then pirates are way too self justified to argue with. Best just to brand them as thieving faggots and move on

>>19287021

>not really interesting to talk about

Not really interesting to talk about?

Our entire civilization owes its existence to a couple of monks copying books...and you don't think that's interesting to talk about?

Fuck man...what if shit hit the fan again? Some sort of apocalyptic event that brought down all the major technological infrastructure...we'd be plunged into another Dark Age.

If that happened, neckbeards with tons of pirated materials in their personal collections would be our only hope of preserving the accumulative knowledge of our civilization.

>ITT: serious arguments

Piracy is a terrible thing. I heard that they kill the whole crew on the ships they board.
There is nothing wrong with file sharing though

>>19285452
Buyfag here you stole that copypasta you are worse than a murderer op.

Well I do pirate old shit that the company wouldn't make money off of anyways.

If renting costs a sale then it is a shitty game. Video games should last longer than 5 days for entertainment

Piracy is stealing, I don't think there really is a way around that fact.

That said though I do enjoy downloading contect from companies and developers who are just out right greedy. COD? macOS? I will always support companies that have integrity but ones that don't can close up shop for all I care.

>>19287050
Downloading an ebook/scan of a book for a course is piracy.

>>19287097
>Fuck man...what if shit hit the fan again? Some sort of apocalyptic event that brought down all the major technological infrastructure...we'd be plunged into another Dark Age.
>If that happened, neckbeards with tons of pirated materials in their personal collections would be our only hope of preserving the accumulative knowledge of our civilization.

If that happened, none of the neckbeards computers would work. We would still all be fucked.

Besides the thing people are pirating e.g. Windows, movies, games, software, music, etc I wouldn't really consider essential to the accumulative knowledge of human kind.

Pro: Get to listen, watch, do things I could never afford. Try to save up for a computer to upgrade and school.
Con: People calling you a criminal for getting something you never would of paid for the in first place, as in, not capable to.

>I'd say it makes you worse than a murderer since murder and theft are illegal.
You're right. Next time I think of downloading pornography I'll just go rape and kill a little girl instead. It's the right thing.

>>19287050
>>19287033
>>19287045

It's completely relevant.

Fundamentally, what these monks did is copy information that they did not create and share it with others.

That's pretty much the same thing as modern piracy. The sole extent to which it differs is the speed and scope of the copying and sharing.

>>19287097

Oh boy, our future is going to learn about child pornography and backstreet boys. Lets just hope those neckbeards aren't pedophile faggots

>>19287270

>none of the neckbeards computers would work

Fucking generators, how do they work?

>>19287270

>Windows, movies, games, software, music, etc
>I wouldn't really consider essential

>Implying that people do not pirate eBooks, audiobooks, pdfs of books.
>Implying that Art is not an integral part of civilization

>>19287313

Also today, the concept of publications exists. It is not necessary any more to copy it by an additional author due to advancement in printing technology.

The motivation of the monks looks a lot like preservation of knowledge, which is in contrast to beneficial acquisition.

Copyright infringement is not piracy.

Your argument might have held water had the likes of Disney, Sonny Bono, Orrin Hatch, Senator Hollings, etc, not extended copyright to mean "forever and ever, or at least no expiry within your lifetime, faggots"

Now i just ignore the law, because the law is an ass. The social contract has been broken.

On the broader issue why you shouldn't infringe on copyright as a practical issue:

Copying software does nothing but give the incumbent publisher more market share. This is why OGA and WGA will never be unbreakable. This is why Bill Gates said in 1998 that he wanted the Chinese to steal Windows "because as long as they're going to steal, we want them to steal ours."

Giving the incumbent publisher more market share locks out competitors, and publishers know this. The last thing Microsoft wants you to do is to try out a different OS. The last thing Autodesk wants you to do is try out SolidWorks.

>>19287387

>motivation of the monks looks a lot like preservation of knowledge

Nope.

Their motivation was as much beneficial acquisition as a person who pirates an eBook today. They wanted to study these works and share them with their brothers.

It just so happens that their actions resulted in the preservation of knowledge. It was not their immediate intention, just an incidental result.