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[darklord92]

Maybe the solution to piracy is not to outright kill it but let it phase out? digital distribution is growing. maybe pirating is a sign to get up with the times and get industry onto the internet 

[612DwarfAvenue]

When Spore was released, it had a 1:1 bought-to-pirated ratio, meaning fully half of all the copies were pirated, and i'm sure that ratio's gone further in the pirate's favor since then. That was because of the DRM it used, SecuROM, which all the pirated copies dealt with one way or another which completely defeated the purpose of having it. I'd imagine the games that used Ubisoft's always-online DRM thing were pretty heavily pirated as well.

The fact of the matter is, pirates gonna pirate, if the 100 legitimate consumers have to deal with draconian DRM that's only gonna be able to stop maybe 2 pirates, a lot of them are gonna turn to piracy if they really want the game, which oftentimes means they'll return the game first so they get their money back.

Absolutely, the best weapon against piracy is to make people want to buy the game. Just look at Steam, they've always got some kinda "X% off prices" deal going on, and i think people would be more inclined to pay a few dollars for a game instead of downloading potentially malware-infested pirated version if they have the choice.

[Criptfeind]

Lengthy, relevant discussion

Did you just link to a conspiracy theory site, and say that your words gain more 'truth' because you posted them there then because you posted them here? And indeed. Your TL;DR seems inaccurate. It does not look, to what I can see, like a rational debate happened followed by a agreement well founded in logic. It looks like every internet forum debate everywhere. Not something that, I personally feel, should be given as proof of your argument with no further words from you.

Short of it is: It feel dishonest to me for you to link that, because it is clearly a appeal to people that did not actually click on your link saying "Hey look! Lots of smart people think I am right! You should as well! No need to actually read anything!"

[darklord92]

I remember buying spore. still have the disk and code. but as you say due ot the drm i'm unable to install it on my new computer. bah.

Lengthy, relevant discussion

Aside from that, I said your feelings, not hysteria and swiss cheese theories. It's theorys in this that make mountains( full of Elfs ) out of mole hills and what makes the government turn it's head and try so hard to suppress something that could be resolved much easier. Sopa and Pipa were the government trying to do good. but over reacting to something they believe is catastrophic. I agrea Sopa and Pipa were way out of proportion, and overstepped way to many boundaries on our freedom, but that's because the government overreacted to a situation they perceived as immense. which called for something of that scale, but this isn't as large as they see it, and forcing things like Sopa down everyones throats isn't going to do anything but draw the l33t h4axors in, they love challenges, even when the rest of us suffer they still get to laugh AND get around sopa and pipa.

[LordBucket]

Did you just link to a conspiracy theory site, and say that your words gain more 'truth' because you posted them there then because you posted them here?

No, I linked to that discussion because I didn't want to reproduce hours worth of typing from a discussion that lasted days.

Your TL;DR seems inaccurate.

It is an accurate portrayal of my position within that discussion. Other positions were offered.



The whole concept of copyright is silly. The purpose it serves is to create aritificial scarcity where scarcity does not otherwise exist.

In the context of copyright, why is piracy "bad?" It's only "bad" for people who benefit from the artificial scarcity. It is not beneficial to the vast majority of individuals, nor to society as a whole. To give you a metaphor, imagine a tribe of cavemen living in a cave. They are cold. One of the cavemen starts banging rocks together and manages to make a fire. Using the concept of copyright, that caveman is then entitled to insist that nobody else bang rocks together to make a fire, and to demand royalties from them to get "permission" to do so, and to punish them if they don't.

It's not a beneficial arrangement for anyone other than that one caveman.

[klingon13524]

I think the historically inaccurate portrayal of pirates is fine, but audiences need to know what they were really like. They would use grapeshot in that scenario, not round shot. If the captain was that douchey, they'd vote someone else as captain. Pirate does not automatically mean buccaneer, there were quite a few privateers that worked for a government.

Then there's of course the issue of modern pirates with speedboats and RPGs, but that's a different topic for a different time.

Wait, what kind of piracy were we discussing?

[Max White]

I just got an interesting text, relevant to this thread. Apparently the pirate bay has been taken down, gone the way of megaupload. Site isn't loading for me... Can anybody confirm this?

If so, it would have to have a rather serious legal impact, wouldn't it? I mean MU was taken down because they had a server on US soil, but surly TPB didn't. How could they have legally taken it down?

[Angel Of Death]

I just got an interesting text, relevant to this thread. Apparently the pirate bay has been taken down, gone the way of megaupload. Site isn't loading for me... Can anybody confirm this?

If so, it would have to have a rather serious legal impact, wouldn't it? I mean MU was taken down because they had a server on US soil, but surly TPB didn't. How could they have legally taken it down?

TPB is down . It was functioning fine about half an hour ago, to my knowledge.

[Max White]

I've been testing it from proxies around the world, it seems to be down globally, so maybe maintenance?
No way the USA could block a site hosted off their soil for countries not signed into their treaties.

[Sir Finkus]

I've been testing it from proxies around the world, it seems to be down globally, so maybe maintenance?
No way the USA could block a site hosted off their soil for countries not signed into their treaties.

Probably a dns issue.  It looks like it redirects to thepiratebay.se now.  I suppose it could also be a hack, be wary.

[Max White]

*Disables EVERYTHING*
Ok, let's see what this is all about...
Hmm, seems legit. Perhaps they did in fact have something hosted where it wasn't safe any more, and just recently moved to a new address? Did anybody have their IP before?

[Mictlantecuhtli]

TPB moved their servers to a Swedish server, transferring from .org to .se, to remove the possibility of being raided a la Megaupload, as the USA/copyright empire has no jurisdiction over .se domains, or something. The details are pretty unclear, but they'll be back soon enough. No need to be alarmed, they're just moving right now.

But I am a staunch supporter of free information and therefore piracy, mostly because freedom of information leads to enrichment of quality of life, with no real expense.

Maybe this can help put it in perspective,

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I write this from the steam jungles of Borneo and would like to say how much TPB has made my life here bearable.

From nonexistent bookshops to nonexistent music shops, nonexistent movie theaters, video rentals, radio stations, TV stations that aren't full of old 50s and 60s reruns or so heavily edited as to defy their original purpose - I would love to be able to buy modern media - but I can't, so my only recourse is to continue to depend on the kindness of strangers, both the people who make torrents and share them, and those that make that possible.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart - you make living in a cultural void possible

A recent commenter on TPB. His story isn't even unique when viewed in a world-scale.

[Max White]

I'm not so much a huge fan of the pirate bay itself. I'm a programmer by trade, so it would be hypocritical for me to indulge in pirating and still expect to ever be paid for my work, but still... The legal ramifications of it being shut down are insane.

I guess this is one of those times when I don't like what is being said, but I will fight for the right for it to be said.

[Muz]

I assert that copyright is an unnecessary and harmful idea.

Lengthy, relevant discussion

TL;DR:
Copyright law does not generate a desirable result. Get rid of it. Completely.

Yeah, and you'll instantly destroy every company that relies on copyright law. All you'll have is indie stuff and classical music.


I'm on the fence on this. I'd probably say that I buy music thanks to Napster. A few years after that whole issue, the Malaysian government set a maximum price on music, and that made music very affordable. Piracy drives down prices.

Unfortunately, this does not apply to most game companies. I do pay for bargain bin stuff, like Fallout or EU3. I'm fine with paying for goods. It's just that I don't want to pay $50 (about 40 hours of overtime) for a game when I have no idea what's in it. And certainly not for a stupid Sims expansion. If it was a good expansion, like World Adventures fine, but not for adding 50 features I never use and one tiny feature that I mess around a little with and get bored.

I have a lot of pirated stuff at home, mostly bought CDs and DVDs from the dial up days. Today, most of those CDs don't work. They only have a lifespan of a few years. Some are missing, some are in someone else's computer, some are in other CD covers and I can't bother to sort them out because only a few of them are worth playing these days. Some are damaged, I can try for a hours to install them and then get errors.

Plus, piracy is so convenient now. I could maybe spend 3 hours searching the house for Sim City 4 and the Rush Hour expansion. I'd spend at least an hour trying to install them because the CD sucks. Or I can get on a proxy (Malaysia blocks sites), get on Pirate Bay, search, download. It takes < 2 minutes of effort, a few hours of waiting (and I can go to work, read a book), maybe 5 mins of installation, and all done. If I've actually legally paid for it, I don't see why I shouldn't just pirate it.

But I don't think piracy should be glorified - it's just there as an alternative. If you can afford it, by all means buy the full thing. Some people argue that it's only a day's wage for 100+ hours of entertainment or something. If you're one of those people, get it.

What's funny about game piracy is that the people who have the free time to enjoy games/anime/etc don't have a job and don't have money, and the people who have jobs and money don't have the free time to play games/watch anime, and rather spend their money on food, clothes, things that they'll use all the time. At best, you can maybe target people who have light jobs or parents.

[Luke_Prowler]

I assert that copyright is an unnecessary and harmful idea.

Lengthy, relevant discussion

TL;DR:
Copyright law does not generate a desirable result. Get rid of it. Completely.

Yeah, and you'll instantly destroy every company that relies on copyright law. All you'll have is indie stuff and classical music.

Actually, no, gitting rid of copyright all together helps underhanded companies more. If some artist was to make something that was popular, a company could take that idea without the artist's permission, and use it's greater resources to out produce and/or out market the orginal artist. Obviously copyright laws right now do next to nothing to support the artist already, but I'm only asking for SANE laws.