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Yes, it is a terrible crime.

It can be harmful at times.

It is neither helpful nor harmful.

It can be both helpful and harmful.

It can be helpful at times.

No, it is the best thing to happy to many media since the Beatles.

Undecided.

Other.

Don't care. / View poll.

[Farseer]

What does everyone here think of (media) piracy (as in that stuff where you torrent something you do not legally own)? Do you think it's theft (lol) or do you think it's just a show of righteous indignation on the part of the consumer? Why do you think so many companies hate it so much?

In my opinion, the companies hate it not because it's "losing them sales" (not in the typical sense, anyway) but because it puts too much power in the hands of the consumer. If you can torrent an album or a game or a book and that book is utterly shit, what is the point in buying it? It means the consumer has utter power over what they choose to buy and companies HATE that. Well informed consumers are consumers that are not paying. This is the reason for pre-order bonuses in this day and age. If you have no idea what the game is like but are willing to buy it for "exclusive content" then you're going to buy it without being informed.

Pirating a game is like having a massive demo (a demo of the full game, in fact), which is why piracy went up so much when PC games weren't really getting demos. Companies seem to have realised this and are releasing very limited demos, but they know that piracy means that players can try out content before they buy. Which is clearly a terrible thing in this era of paid off reviewers and games companies having an utter stranglehold over reviews. ( A rant for another time. But, to put it simply, this is bullshit and there needs to be an independent body to stop it. )

What does everyone else think, then?

[Neonivek]

While I don't think every pirated game WOULD have resulted in a sale.

I do think there is genuin loss of sale from piracy. Though how much I don't know.

Companies do a lot of things to try to prevent loss of sale... even against what should be a legitimate byproduct (Resale for example.). It isn't that they hate the consumer having power it is that they will try to earn money in anyway and will push boundaries until they are told to stop.

When EA started getting a lot of flak for DRM. They still HAVE IT!

[fqllve]

From a consumer's standpoint, I'm okay with it to a point. It's a good way to listen to an album, or check out a series, before you buy it. But if you like it I think you should buy it. If only because it's nice to have a physical copy.

From a creator's standpoint, I like it. I want people to listen to my music or read my book, that's why I created it in the first place. Making money is nice, but it's not what's important, and it's not like internet piracy prevents people from buying the work if it's really good.

[Angel Of Death]

I think companies need to stop whining about piracy. They don't lose millions, they just gain less.

[Neonivek]

I think companies need to stop whining about piracy. They don't lose millions, they just gain less.

It is mostly because I believe under the economic diagram they function under they declair every single pirated copy of their product as a "Lost potential sale".

[Agdune]

(this thread will end in a rampant wildfire, destroying whole cities and continents in its wake. It will also get roughly 2 people warned and maybe one banned.)

I think (responsible) piracy isn't really a huge deal. You a student who gets bugger all money and has little to do? Why the hell not download Shogun Total War 2? It's not like you're about to go buy it with your $15 weekly food allowance. If you're a gamer who works full time and gloats over his 3TB of purely pirated game images, you're a dick (and have a serious hoarding issue. Who can possibly justify that large a collection other than with "it briefly satiates my urgent and nagging need for new things to fill my empty empty life"?).

If you're one of those increasingly rare types who makes an actual profit, selling pirated stuff to technologically un-savvy individuals, you're basically every stereotype that the producer companies throw out onto those pre-movie piracy warning ads (excluding that BBC one that said that piracy supports terrorism, that one just makes me laugh, with an angry rattle). You're ruining it for the rest of us guys.

[Phmcw]

Well, why the hell couldn't you use what you have at home. PC killed cd distribution, big deal.
As for games, I only use free software (sometime I pay for it), (except when required by work), so I don't care either.
Richard Stallman all the way. inb4 the inevitable angry anti Stallman.

[ed boy]

The only music I have ever paid for has been stuff that I could not find available to pirate. If I could, I would not have bought it. I know people in the same (or similar) situation to me: certainly pirating does prevent sales.

However, not all the stuff I pirate is a potential sale. There are some things which I would not enjoy enough to buy, but would enjoy enough to pirate.

[scriver]

(excluding that BBC one that said that piracy supports terrorism, that one just makes me laugh, with an angry rattle).

Are you really sure they're talking about the same kind of piracy? Or did someone on BBC not get the memo that the Somalians are not, in fact, threatening the global trade flow by distributing black copies of games and music to ships that pass by the Arabian Sea?

[Agdune]

(excluding that BBC one that said that piracy supports terrorism, that one just makes me laugh, with an angry rattle).

Are you really sure they're talking about the same kind of piracy? Or did someone on BBC not get the memo that the Somalians are not, in fact, threatening the global trade flow by distributing black copies of games and music to ships that pass by the Arabian Sea?

Check it out. It's probably the best anti-piracy ad ever. it certanly swayed me with its well founded arguments and bulletproof logic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTMIz0_Iij8. I was however wrong about it being BBC, it's just that the presenter has a British accent.

[Angel Of Death]

(excluding that BBC one that said that piracy supports terrorism, that one just makes me laugh, with an angry rattle).

Are you really sure they're talking about the same kind of piracy? Or did someone on BBC not get the memo that the Somalians are not, in fact, threatening the global trade flow by distributing black copies of games and music to ships that pass by the Arabian Sea?

Check it out. It's probably the best anti-piracy ad ever. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTMIz0_Iij8. I was however wrong about it being BBC, it's just that the presenter has a British accent.

HAHAHAHAAAAAA!!! If I download a game, I'm automaticly funding terrorism according to this ad.

[white_darkness]

You know, I remember reading about a "music-industry-surpressed-study" that seemed to actually indicate that for every X times a song was shared, that album would garner additional sales.

Think I'll go see if I can dig it up....

[Simmura McCrea]

You know, I remember reading about a "music-industry-surpressed-study" that seemed to actually indicate that for every X times a song was shared, that album would garner additional sales.

Think I'll go see if I can dig it up....

Neil Gaiman agrees.

[white_darkness]

God bless Neil Gaiman. 

Which, from April 2010 the Government Accountability Office's Observations on Efforts to Quantify the Economic Effects of Counterfeit and Pirated Goods (Caution PDF!), key points include that most of the industry quoted figures for losses could not be substantiated and the touching comment of potential positive for businesses of "Increased sales of legitimate goods based on consumer “sampling” of pirated goods".  There's also an interesting stat about where an estimated 77% of counterfeit goods come from... <_<

From 2009 by Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Koleman Strumpf File-Sharing and Copyright (Caution PDF!)

And ye gods do I hate PDFs for a variety of reasons, but I did find the study I remembered...

Straight outta 2004 yet again by Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Koleman Strumpf The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales
An Empirical Analysis (Caution PDF!)

[Ochita]

Well, why the hell couldn't you use what you have at home. PC killed cd distribution, big deal.
As for games, I only use free software (sometime I pay for it), (except when required by work), so I don't care either.
Richard Stallman all the way. inb4 the inevitable angry anti Stallman.

Like how Video killed the radio star?