Piracy

[BoneFreak]

For any of you who think having music videos on the internet is illegal or whatnot: http://www.vevo.com . You'd think if it were such a big problem they would take down that whole site now.

[RingmasterJ5]

I do something that most people call very close to pirating(but I don't mind at all): PS3 Gamesharing with a close friend. In this sense, my friend has pirated around 60-70 PS3 and PSP games(including TDP).

[Friar]

Originally Posted by RingmasterJ5

I do something that most people call very close to pirating(but I don't mind at all): PS3 Gamesharing with a close friend. In this sense, my friend has pirated around 60-70 PS3 and PSP games(including TDP).

To be honest, thats not much worse than lending someone a game/DVD, or inviting them round to watch a film together. It's when you start sharing with more than a couple friends that it becomes an issue.

[RingmasterJ5]

Originally Posted by Friar

To be honest, thats not much worse than lending someone a game/DVD, or inviting them round to watch a film together. It's when you start sharing with more than a couple friends that it becomes an issue.

Well, no other friend I have owns a PS3, and I wouldn't trust some of my other PSP-owning friends with my account.

[BoneFreak]

I also once put music on my computer another way: I just got the CD from the library, put it in my computer, and ripped the CD so I could keep the files. That has no possibility at being illegal.

[Psy]

Originally Posted by Friar

To be honest, thats not much worse than lending someone a game/DVD, or inviting them round to watch a film together. It's when you start sharing with more than a couple friends that it becomes an issue.

This is a little scary.

So, there's this book series I'm desperately in love with called The Prince of Nothing (Check it out). I bought copies of the books. I figured some friends would like it, so I loaned them my books. Due to the first-sale doctrine this is 100% legal.

In the post I quoted, the things I bolded are all 100% legal. In fact, you can share a thing with as many people as you want *as long as you don't make any copies*

It is illegal youtube videos get removed all the time for copyright infringement.... Heck all the videos that people around here put up of TTG games is an infringement if TTG wanted to they could get them removed... and send you a +10 letter of discouragement...

Copyright is an interesting thing. You can't make the blanket statement that putting up music on youtube is illegal. For example, if a musician chooses to use any of the Creative Commons licenses on their work then you can upload it to youtube all you want- so long as you attribute the original creator (and possibly meet some other standards; Read up on the licenses for more details).

Due to the concept of Fair Use, you can even use copyrighted material with zero permission whatsoever as long as you make a significant change or addition to the original material; For example, parody is explicitly allowed in all circumstances. Other things are less clear; A lot of youtube videos get into hazy legal ground.

Unfortunately, due to our legal system, unclear definition of copyright, lobbying by the industry, and general public misconceptions (like the ones I quoted), we've hit a point where tons of people think that fair use and sharing are all explicitly disallowed and illegal. Some things are, to be sure; blatant piracy of standard copyrighted material is illegal. But that doesn't mean that every time you loan a friend a game or listen to a burned CD in your car you're breaking the law.

[der_ketzer]

Originally Posted by Avistew

I haven't gone to the theatre in years because of the price. It's often cheaper to buy the DVD, even new, and you can watch it more than once and/or resell it afterwards.

Not an excuse to download it illegally in my opinion, though.

I agrre with you on this one. Especially since the DVD releases are pretty fast nowadays. Some years ago you had to wait a lot longer for the VHS or DVD release of a movie. There is just no sense in going to a theatre any more.

I tried it in the past and it just made me realise how much I hate having people around me that are talking, eating etc. while I am trying to watch the movie.
And on DVD I can watch the english versions of the movie any time I want and not only in certain screenings.

[Psy]

I go to midnight showings quite a bit, but that turns the movie into an experience rather than just a movie; Nothing like seeing tons of crazy people dressed up and super excited about something

[Alcoremortis]

I go to the movie theater because the TV my family has is about ten years old so the picture doesn't look quite as pretty as the giant screens at the theater.

[SHODANFreeman]

Originally Posted by der_ketzer

There is just no sense in going to a theatre any more.

Originally Posted by Psy

I go to midnight showings quite a bit, but that turns the movie into an experience rather than just a movie; Nothing like seeing tons of crazy people dressed up and super excited about something

The point, to me, of going to a theatre is the experience itself. Midnight showings are awesome and unique, but even a regular showing is worth going to for me, because there's nothing like seeing a film for the first time on a screen bigger than my entire living room with sound blasting through huge surround sound speakers. It's so much more intense, especially if it's an action or horror flick. Those are by far the movies to see in theatres.

[Friar]

Originally Posted by der_ketzer

I agrre with you on this one. Especially since the DVD releases are pretty fast nowadays. Some years ago you had to wait a lot longer for the VHS or DVD release of a movie. There is just no sense in going to a theatre any more.

I tried it in the past and it just made me realise how much I hate having people around me that are talking, eating etc. while I am trying to watch the movie.
And on DVD I can watch the english versions of the movie any time I want and not only in certain screenings.

I've recently gotten into seeing films at the cinema. For me, the allure is spending the day out with friends, and having a laugh. Yes, we could just all camp out in front of my TV, but it's not the same. Plus, if it wasn't for the little kid who went "uh-oh" everytime something bad happened in Shrek 4, i would hav hated that film.

@psy: It's weird how the moment something jumps into digital media, it's considered illegal to anything to it. But when i said it's not much worse than lending a physical copy, i meant because you could both be playing the game at the same time. It might be legal, but you could make an arguement for it being more harmful to sales than use& share. If both parties wanted to play a physical game on release, they would have to buy individual copies, as they can't both use one disc. They can however share digital files, so would only need to buy one. At the end of the day, it's not something i would choose to do (mind you, i rarely borrow/lend out physical stuff), but i don't frown on people who do it.

[Gman5852]

Originally Posted by Friar

I've recently gotten into seeing films at the cinema. For me, the allure is spending the day out with friends, and having a laugh. Yes, we could just all camp out in front of my TV, but it's not the same. Plus, if it wasn't for the little kid who went "uh-oh" everytime something bad happened in Shrek 4, i would hav hated that film.

Shrek 4? is that still out?

[BoneFreak]

Originally Posted by Gman5852

Shrek 4? is that still out?

He might've seen it a while ago.

And Friar, you are right. I hated Shrek 4, and there was no kid saying uh-oh.

[Friar]

Originally Posted by Gman5852

Shrek 4? is that still out?

It's only been out 3 weeks over here.

[ShaggE]

Originally Posted by Friar

It's weird how the moment something jumps into digital media, it's considered illegal to anything to it. But when i said it's not much worse than lending a physical copy, i meant because you could both be playing the game at the same time. It might be legal, but you could make an arguement for it being more harmful to sales than use& share. If both parties wanted to play a physical game on release, they would have to buy individual copies, as they can't both use one disc. They can however share digital files, so would only need to buy one. At the end of the day, it's not something i would choose to do (mind you, i rarely borrow/lend out physical stuff), but i don't frown on people who do it.

Agreed. I swap purchases from Good Old Games with a friend. When one of us buys something there, the other is free to nab it. I don't see anything wrong with that, honestly. It really is no different than "Hey, let me borrow your copy of such-and-such", since we buy our own copies of what we like just to support GoG.

[JedExodus]

Originally Posted by ShaggE

Agreed. I swap purchases from Good Old Games with a friend. When one of us buys something there, the other is free to nab it. I don't see anything wrong with that, honestly. It really is no different than "Hey, let me borrow your copy of such-and-such", since we buy our own copies of what we like just to support GoG.

I dished out Puzzle Agent to my bro, hardly felt criminal. He loved it by the by. Plus I can share it with him despite being in different cities, which is pretty cool and I wouldn't be able to do with physical media

[Hayden]

Originally Posted by JedExodus

I dished out Puzzle Agent to my bro, hardly felt criminal. He loved it by the by. Plus I can share it with him despite being in different cities, which is pretty cool and I wouldn't be able to do with physical media

This is another instance that I see pirating as acceptable, when it's among your close family members. If one member of the family owns a physical copy of a game, then it's unlikely that another person from the same family is going to buy it; they'll just wait until the buyer in the family is no longer using it, then they'll borrow it. But this is inconvenient because the buyer may need it back off their family member for some reason and, in JedExodus's case, is unable to get it back due to living far apart. So, the best option is just to pirate the game, because the borrower wouldn't be desperate enough for the product to buy it (because they know that a family member owns it), but they still want to be able to use it. So, for convenience reasons, piracy wouldn't really hurt here.

[[TTG] Yare]

Originally Posted by RingmasterJ5

I do something that most people call very close to pirating(but I don't mind at all): PS3 Gamesharing with a close friend. In this sense, my friend has pirated around 60-70 PS3 and PSP games(including TDP).

This is specifically allowed in the license for PS3/PSP accounts.

[Hayden]

This thread has been a good read. It's incredible how rational the discussion has been for something that's usually a pretty touchy subject.

[GuruGuru214]

Originally Posted by Hayden

This thread has been a good read. It's incredible how rational the discussion has been for something that's usually a pretty touchy subject.

What's really incredible is that this is how the entire forum was a few months ago. It's nice to get a little of that back.