this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2023
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Well, my friend, he's kinda poor he can't afford some books and some streaming services, so he pirates. He pirate books, audiobook and videos and other stuff. Sometimes he buys books he likes a lot out of loyalty to the author (yeah, I don't understand it either), he likes to read physical books, but yeah, if he hates the author or just wants to skim through it, he will download the book.

He usually doesn't like to pirate from small companies or professors who are trying to make a living by selling books, but from millionaires & plenty of mega corps which already have loads of money, he feels like it's the right move to pirate

Also, have you ever noticed that you have felt that the value of a product has decreased just because you didn't pay for it, thus you are less interested to read it? i.e., had you paid for the book, you would have more likely read that book.

He says he will buy stuff when his time is more valuable than money, let's all hope that day is soon.

What are your piracy habits?

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[–] drcouzelis@lemmy.zip 155 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

I don't have an answer to your exact question but I want to emphasize...

NOTHING in the history of humankind has ever existed like computer data. A 100% identical copy of videos, pictures, and music can be made almost instantly at what is essentially zero cost to the original holder of the data. Any comparison to "stealing" or to a physical object (a car lol) just falls flat because the situation is just so different.

Practically speaking, the world we live in, with computers everywhere, cheap storage, and easy fast internet access for so much of the world, has only been around for about two decades, maybe three. NOTHING like this has ever existed before, and businesses, culture, and laws have been very slow to catch up.

I'm not saying pirating is right or wrong, just that the whole idea is still so new that society hasn't caught up to it yet.

[–] LrdThndr@lemmy.world 81 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

In ~Babylon~ Alexandria, docking ships were required to surrender any and all written materials to the library. There, scribes would make a copy of everything that was submitted.

The originals of the documents were stored in the library and the copies were given back to the ships.

First instance of intellectual property piracy?

[–] DogMuffins@discuss.tchncs.de 15 points 1 year ago

First instance of intellectual property piracy?

Perhaps, but of course there are still significant differences.

To make these copies you needed a team of highly skilled scribes and their accoutrements, and the ship had to wait in port for several days.

That is to say, these copies in babylon would have come at a significant cost.

[–] Confused_Emus@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I thought that was Alexandria?

[–] LrdThndr@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Yes. You are correct and I am a dumbass.

[–] Subject6051@lemmy.ml 35 points 1 year ago

NOTHING in the history of humankind has ever existed like computer data. A 100% identical copy of videos, pictures, and music can be made almost instantly at what is essentially zero cost to the original holder of the data. Any comparison to β€œstealing” or to a physical object (a car lol) just falls flat because the situation is just so different.

YES!

Nice comment, tq!

[–] WoofWoof91@hexbear.net 12 points 1 year ago

NOTHING in the history of humankind has ever existed like computer data. A 100% identical copy of videos, pictures, and music can be made almost instantly at what is essentially zero cost to the original holder of the data. Any comparison to "stealing" or to a physical object (a car lol) just falls flat because the situation is just so different.

old uk piracy ads used the line "Piracy is theft!"
the funny thing is that it wasn't actually legally theft
theft required (and still does i think) depriving the rightful owner of the goods themselves

[–] sock@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

thats a super copey way to say you pirate and dont see it as wrong. digital or not its still a product so the rules are the same.

of course the rule being pirate from big companies and try to not pirate indie stuff (unless ur a poor college student)

i pirate all my games and movies generally but i would pay if i liked a game a lot. but piracy is bad for the sole reason of if everyone pirated hypothetically then digital content would likely cease to exist which would also be bad. or maybe not if ur amish

[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 year ago

Digital content wouldn't cease to exist, it just wouldn't be able to be monetised.

The content would once again be made by the people who are passionate about those projects, and not about the greedy shareholders that want mediocre content just enough to get people to pay for it and line their own pockets.