• merc@sh.itjust.works
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    1 month ago

    Old-fashioned high seas pirating may have been stealing, but the modern copyright infringement form has never been stealing.

    A key aspect of stealing is that you’re depriving the owner of some kind of property. While you have that property, they don’t, and they can’t use it. Copyright infringement doesn’t deprive the owner of anything. The only thing they lose is the government-granted monopoly over the right to distribute that “idea”. If copyright infringement is like an old fashioned crime, it’s like trespassing. The government granted someone the right to control who has access to some land, and a trespasser violates that law.

    • kittenzrulz123
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      1 month ago

      I wish piracy was stealing, I want to constantly download Ubisofts games until they go bankrupt

    • LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      The only thing media producers [Party A] is deprived of is a little bit of money they feel entitled to every time [Party B] appreciates & consumes A’s media. If hundreds & thousands of B’s are appreciating & consuming A’s media, the financial losses begin to add up after A put so much work, effort, training, time, passion & resources into it, only to not get paid for all that effort.

      How would you feel if you worked your ass off at work then didn’t get paid because your employer felt invisible & untraceable and felt like they could get away with not paying you?

      • mindaika@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 month ago

        How would I feel if I produced a lot of value and my employer gave me only part of it while keeping the rest for themselves because they can get away with it?

        Like 99% of people

      • merc@sh.itjust.works
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        1 month ago

        The only thing media producers [Party A] is deprived of is a little bit of money

        No, the media producers aren’t deprived of money, they’re deprived of control. They often do use that control to make money.

        If hundreds & thousands of B’s are appreciating & consuming A’s media, the financial losses begin to add up

        There are no losses. There may be missed opportunities to make sales, but that isn’t the same thing as losses.

        A put so much work, effort, training, time, passion

        Sure, “passion”. I’m sure that a lot of people pirate things passionately too.

        As for how I’d feel? I’d probably feel bad if I depended on the current crooked copyright system to make money and then I wasn’t making as much money as I hoped. But, that doesn’t make the current crooked copyright system right. Similarly, if I were a manor lord in the middle ages and depended on peasants to work my land and the peasants ran away, I’d feel like I was being cheated. That doesn’t mean that that was a good system either.

        • LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Interesting how you quoted “work, effort, training, time, and passion,” while you conveniently disregarded the “work, effort, training and time” that media producers invest. You think they don’t deserve to earn money for their work & effort & training & time?

          Do you feel that YOU deserve to get paid for your work & effort & training & time?

          I know you think you already answered that question, but you really didn’t. So I’ll ask you again:

          Do you feel like YOU deserve to get paid for your work & effort & training & time?

          • merc@sh.itjust.works
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            1 month ago

            Do you feel like YOU deserve to get paid for your work & effort & training & time?

            No, I deserve to be paid what people have agreed to pay me. The work and effort and so-on is irrelevant.

            • LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              Understandable. So what if people don’t agree to pay you but want your product anyway? That’s what we’re dealing with here.

                • LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world
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                  1 month ago

                  We’re talking about people pirating movies and video games and music. That’s the product. And it applies to anything. If I want something, I need to pay for it. That’s how the world works.

                  • merc@sh.itjust.works
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                    1 month ago

                    Movies, video games and music aren’t “products”.

                    If I want something, I need to pay for it. That’s how the world works.

                    Yes, it is. Isn’t that a shame? They’ve convinced you that that’s normal, when it isn’t. We could make the world a better place.