this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2024
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Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

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75% of the anti-piracy discussions I see rarely blame companies like Nintendo or Disney and always try to talk about how piracy is immoral, and you should feel "dirty" for doing it. My question is why do people seem to hate those who pirate more than the bad practices of mega-corporations or the fact that they don't want to preserve their media?

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[–] Rekorse@sh.itjust.works 12 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I can hate bad corporate practices and also think that piracy is stealing. They aren't mutually exclusive.

Why do people seem like they hate pirates more, to you? Likely a bias because you are a pirate, and not working for a corporation.

In my opinion I hear more critiques of big business than of piracy. I also dont find these threads full of people saying negative things about piracy, but thats a matter of perspective.

I also pirate, but theres a reason I'd rather pay for it if I can afford it.

[–] python@programming.dev 5 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I also dont find these threads full of people saying negative things about piracy, but thats a matter of perspective.

In my experience, people who are annoyingly judgmental about Piracy irl are not the ones using Text-heavy social media.

[–] TheV2@programming.dev 1 points 12 hours ago

In my experience, pirates who are annoyingly trying to find moral reasons to pirate are mostly the ones using text-heavy social media.

[–] Nytixus@kbin.melroy.org 8 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Because they're consoomers. Consoomers don't like people who supposedly threaten their product that they shall consoom later.

And consoomers don't want to make the hand that feeds them angry so they'll buy into any and every lie that's been pitched for years about piracy.

[–] incognito08@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 14 hours ago

"And consoomers don’t want to make the hand that feeds them angry" oh god this is so true. I see a lot of youtubers/bloggers who act on this statement, and it really pisses me off... they can't even mention "piracy" without saying it's illegal within the first few seconds of mentioning it, many of these people I feel have already sold their souls to big corporations and others I feel live like they have a gun pointed at them, and so they can only say what is "allowed" and nothing more.

[–] Greyghoster@aussie.zone 10 points 19 hours ago

It’s law and order with a bit of “thou shall not steal”. There’re people who never question the root cause.

[–] 01011@monero.town 4 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

Some people think that bootlicking will make their own pitiful lives better.

[–] Petter1@lemm.ee 5 points 19 hours ago

Many think streaming services went more expensive because of piracy ( less people paying for same content = content price needs to be higher, where I believe it is other way around (higher price for less content = more pirates).

The market of distribution of films and series is just fucked. The fight with competitors using exclusive content leads to worst way of distribution since company with exclusive content has monopoly of that content. Streaming services should not be the one owning the content but should be in competition with other distributors offering the same content.

I think the politics have forgotten that we need at least social capitalism if we not want to create cyberpunk dystopia.

[–] adelita2938@lemmy.dbzer0.com 57 points 1 day ago

Propaganda works.

The put out a lot of propaganda saying that copying files is stealing. They point to intellectual property rights laws as if that means intellectual property is justified because of the existence of laws.

[–] quirzle@programming.dev 78 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I blame the "piracy is stealing" advertising/propaganda. It was super effective, given that we all remember it.

Editing to add one of my favorite videos in the other direction, Copying is Not Theft.

[–] odium@programming.dev 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I don't remember ever seeing such an advertisement in my life.

[–] Boomkop3@reddthat.com 26 points 1 day ago (3 children)

YOU WOULDN'T DOWNLOAD A CAR

[–] quirzle@programming.dev 8 points 1 day ago

That "you wouldn't download a car" became the meme while the ad itself said "you wouldn't steal a car" drives home exactly how effective these ads were at conflating the two.

[–] Kyatto@leminal.space 17 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 8 points 1 day ago

In this day, I'm pretty sure the entirety of the middle class and below would if they could.

[–] bountygiver@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 day ago

and then download a house

[–] xep@fedia.io 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

NOT ONLY WOULD I DOWNLOAD A CAR, I WOULD THEN WORK ON A WAY TO LET EVERYONE DOWNLOAD CARS

[–] Petter1@lemm.ee 2 points 19 hours ago

Sharing is caring ♥️

[–] quirzle@programming.dev 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You've never seen this? Never heard "home taping is killing music" or "don't copy that floppy"?

[–] odium@programming.dev 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

No to all of those. I don't remember ever seeing a floppy. Oldest media formats I remember using are cds and cassettes. And that was in elementary school.

ig the piracy is theft advertising was more of a 90s thing that died down in the 2000s if those are your examples?

[–] quirzle@programming.dev 2 points 1 day ago

Yeah, I guess so. Best I can recall, most people I knew were either avid pirates or casually saw it as low-level criminal activity by the early 2000s.

[–] averyminya@beehaw.org 32 points 1 day ago (1 children)

As opposed to everyone else calling them bootlickers, I think there is likely a subset of people like this who are not considering piracy against the big corporations as unethical, but the "trickle down effect" of piracy towards smaller business/individuals.

For example, if you were to pirate Starfield, no one would really care. If you were to pirate something like BlackOps, most people wouldn't care (and those that do are corporate bootlickers). However, what about pirating indie games, or music VST's, or circumventing a patreon from someone with under 100 supporters?

There's two camps when I see anti-piracy comments; the bootlickers, and those that have the idea that pirates pirate everything relentlessly. The fact of the matter is that piracy does not hurt big corporations, but we cannot say that is also true for small developers publishing their game on their own, and vocal anti-piracy, or rather artist-in-mind individuals, will let the world know that we should support independent artsits and not pirate.

Now, whether or not indie games are getting pirated is a whole different story. And really, what this comes down to is just having the opportunity to purchase in a way that supports the pirates ease of access.

Also, it completely ignores the ethical aspect of piracy which is why support a company that doesn't have your interests at the forefront of its business practices. Which is a very similar reason to decide to not pirate -- I enjoy It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, I would like to see more if it, I will pay Hulu and watch the show to tell them to make more IASIP.

If you like something, don't pirate it if you want more of it. It's actually very simple. If you do like it but can't support it for personal reasons, don't expect to get more of it.

Which of course, for the anti-piracy crowd is another sentence for, "you didn't pay to watch it so they cancelled my favorite show!"

Tl;DR - A poor crossover between an individuals enjoyment of corporate content and an supporting independent artists living wage.

[–] jjlinux@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 day ago

This is the best insight on this subject I've seen in years. Good stuff.

[–] SexualPolytope@lemmy.sdf.org 23 points 1 day ago

There's propaganda, definitely. Also, there are people who simply don't care what they watch. They'll just open Netflix and watch whatever they see on the home screen. It's hard for them to understand why I might wanna watch some Iranian movie from the 80s.

[–] theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 57 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Ignorant idiots who can't think for themselves will always follow the narrative that is forced down their throat.

See also "The war on drugs". The majority of the people who will demonise you for choosing to use "illegal" substances will also be smashing their livers with alcohol which is more detrimental to both themselves and society than a lot of other drugs on a weekly or often daily basis.

Just because it is legal they feel like they are fine to not do their own independent research into what these things actually do to them and how fucking addictive they are.

[–] Rekorse@sh.itjust.works 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I dont think using drugs regularly is comparable to pirating software. Pirating isnt going to affect your ability to reason or think. I also wouldnt use the legality of alcohol as an excuse to do other drugs, especially opioids.

It sounds like you are frustrated that people who also do bad things will judge you for doing other bad things, which makes them hypocrites. But it also means you agree with them to a degree that what you are doing is a bad thing, doesnt it?

[–] theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 14 hours ago

Lol wut.

I wasn't comparing regular drug use to pirating software, I was comparing the disinformation campaigns that are used to present bare faced lies as facts to make people feel bad about the decisions they make in life to further serve their controlling narratives.

To be more specific when writing that comment I was mainly thinking about the racist, oppressive campaign that has been perpetuated around weed and its use when compared to alcohol. Weed was originally made illegal due to predominantly the United States campaign of hate against people of colour and specifically pushed in an attempt to oppress those communities. These campaigns have been based on disinformation and lies all whilst alcohol has been pushed as a thing you should partake in.

In actuality alcohol is more addictive, harmful to your body and society in general than weed ever has been or ever will be. That isn't to say that weed is entirely harmless, I dont mean to suggest that either but really my comment wasn't meant to begin a debate on the safety or lack of for any specific drugs, more to draw a parallel in terms of how people are lied to and manipulated in the ways that they think to then judge or look down on others because they are so wrapped up in believing the false narratives that are pushed.

Sticking with weed some of the world is now turning it around but yes I am frustrated to still live in a country that puts weed alongside stuff like opiods which are not even comparable in terms of addiction and damage that they do to peoples lives. So maybe you are getting a sense of frustration from that fact but I also couldn't care less if anyone is judging me for doing any kinds of drugs. I have heavily researched any substances I have taken before I've taken it, I have looked into positives and negatives from as many independent sources as I could, tested me shit and everyone should have unbiased information to be able to do the same in their lives and choose what they want to put in their body.

You say bad things like drugs are bad things, I dont believe that so I couldn't possibly agree that by taking drugs anyone is doing a "bad thing". I believe that proper education with actual facts and a solid culture of harm reduction should be in place for people to make educated decisions with what they put in their bodies will always be the best possible route to take rather than prohibition.

The majority of negative experiences, deaths etc stem from people not knowing what they are doing, not knowing proper dosages and from having to buy from a black market where you could in reality be getting any fucking thing rather than what you may want which adds in so many variables and possibilities for it to go wrong. People will always get high and who the fuck is anyone to tell anyone else that they can't, a regulated system where people don't have to put themselves in danger buying from the streets would negate so many of the perceived negatives of drug taking.

I also don't believe at its core piracy is a "bad thing" either so your whole second paragraph is kind of moot to me. Sounds to me you might just be close minded in terms of thinking these things are "bad" so I guess the propaganda has worked on you to a degree also.

Drugs are a great thing coupled with reliable and factual knowledge so judge me all you want for partaking in getting high, having fun and doing what I want in a safe and educated manner :)

[–] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 3 points 1 day ago

I still see people parroting these narratives about stuff like weed even after it has been legalized. Some people are too far down the propaganda rabbit hole.

[–] SexualPolytope@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 1 day ago

They're just outsourcing their ethics.

[–] Sebastrion@leminal.space 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Man, i love Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale. I'm always happy seeing it referenced.

I feel like I could probably use that one reference in every other negative thread about the world these days, great game though!

[–] ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 day ago

People buy into the BS sold by companies, they eat it all up without thinking twice about it. It's easier to point fingers at each other than at companies when companies are paying so much money to attack end-users.

[–] Rob200@lemmings.world 18 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

For me i'm always hearing people complain about these companies bad practices. What you hear is based off of who you listen to.

Alot of "official sources" are actually owned by alot of forprofit corporations, so of course you're going to hear piracy bad from those outlets.

But if you follow some youtubers, like Yongyea, you will find voices that actively call out companies like Nintendo and ea's bad practices.

[–] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

I think piracy is immoral but I still partake in it and I don't hate anyone for doing so.

It's like eating meat.

[–] 01011@monero.town 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Eating animals is much worse than piracy. The livestock industry is far more destructive.

[–] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 0 points 11 hours ago

The point was that both are morally wrong and I still keep doing it.

[–] blindsight@beehaw.org 0 points 15 hours ago

Right, but pirating Disney-owned IP is more moral than paying for it. Disney is the number 1 company in the world for lobbying for copyright over-reach. Every dollar that goes to Disney pays for lobbyists who will continue to push for life-of-author + 90+ years, because life-of-author plus 70 years just isn't enough time to control our shared cultural heritage.

Similarly for Nintendo and software piracy.

Paying for Disney/Nintendo media is immoral.

[–] antlion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It’s because they are paying money for something and you’re getting a better deal. See that’s not fair. Same reason vegans hate on omnivores - they’ve taken the high road and the benefits are small while the cost is high. They tell themselves that their money is going to the artists. And if you believe that, then piracy is harming artists in a very direct way.

[–] Boomkop3@reddthat.com 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

When Netflix was just in, their subscribers got the better deal. But currently, tech companies are doing their best to squeeze customers dry for every cent.

Tech corps made the deal bad, piracy didn't change

[–] blindsight@beehaw.org 1 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (1 children)

Meanwhile, Steam is raking it in by continuing to offer a better product than piracy. The Steam Deck is making that even more true; it's so much more convenient to have games in the Steam library than try to keep a repack updated with new patches/content.

[–] Boomkop3@reddthat.com 2 points 14 hours ago

I just realized... steam is why I stopped pirating

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 2 points 1 day ago

Bootlickers...