• null@slrpnk.net
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    8 months ago

    Licensing isn’t ownership, and pirating isn’t stealing, it’s copyright infringement.

    • Wogi@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      The previous comment is more like shorthand, rather than literal truth.

      It’s faster to say piracy isn’t stealing if purchasing isn’t ownership than it is to say “if a company can simply reverse a permanent access license at any time then pirating media from them is perfectly ethical and should not be considered a crime”

      • null@slrpnk.net
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        8 months ago

        It’s bad shorthand though. In this context, there was never any “buying content” happening, nor was piracy ever “stealing”. It’s just misrepresentation of both sides.

        • T0RB1T@sh.itjust.works
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          8 months ago

          That’s fair, but I feel like the point is that many people go through a process where

          1. You pay money
          2. The buttons on your screen say “buy” “purchase” “check-out” or something else to that effect

          That feels like buying media, so according to the common “consumer” (hate that word) brain, you are spending money to buy content.

          At the same time, media corps have been trying to teach us for years that piracy is exactly the same as stealing.

          The whole point of the shorthand is to explain that these are not facts, they’re misconceptions, AND both of these misconceptions exist for the same reason, corporate propaganda.

            • Wogi@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Because you’re bitching about it. Either there’s a better way to express the precise picture you’re describing, or your central argument is fundamentally flawed, and it’s an effective shorthand.

              Sure, there’s nuance. Shorthand is used to convey a nuanced thought quickly. That’s literally the point.

              • null@slrpnk.net
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                8 months ago

                Lol “bitching” about it.

                Weird logic. Pointing out something that isn’t accurate but gets parroted anyways means I need to come up with a better thing to parrot.

                • Zoolander@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  There’s no logic here. You’re right and they’re just throwing a tantrum because it means they’re wrong.

                  • M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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                    8 months ago

                    I am not sure of all the posters here, you would want to mention “throwing a tantrum” in regards to being wrong. But hey I for one am a fan of your posts, it has been fun reading.

    • Zoolander@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      It is stealing. I don’t understand the mental gymnastics here. You’re stealing income from whoever created the content if you’re not paying them for your ability to watch it.

      • Refurbished Refurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org
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        8 months ago

        How are you stealing income if there was no intention to pay the company to begin with? Even if there was an intention to buy it, companies aren’t entitled to consumers’ money. This is especially the case if the consumer has previously purchased a license to consume the product, and then the company decides to take (or steal) it away. No moral qualms with pirating the same content then.

        It’s digital data; you’re copying something, leaving the original completely intact. It’s not like a physical BluRay, where if you steal it from a store, you are making that store lose money due to that physical stock being stolen.

        And lastly, how is the company not stealing from consumers when they pull shit like this?

        • Zoolander@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Even if there was an intention to buy it, companies aren’t entitled to consumers’ money.

          Then you’re not entitled to ingest the content being created by that “company” (doesn’t have to be a company, it could be a single artist or a small group of artists).

          Taking away licenses is wrong. I’m not disputing that. But that doesn’t magically make stealing something that actual people created right.

          • archomrade [he/him]@midwest.social
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            8 months ago

            Then you’re not entitled to ingest the content being created by that “company” (doesn’t have to be a company, it could be a single artist or a small group of artists).

            Are you making an ethical, moral, or legal statement here?

            Ownership of intangibles in this context exists only as a means to support a particular political arrangement. I think you may be assuming others here share your politics; there is no objective moral standard for exclusive ownership of intangibles.

            • Zoolander@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              By that argument, there is no moral imperative for people to create intangibles as they have no value. If someone creates art that you like, they deserve to be paid for the time and effort it took to create that art whether the art itself is physically tangible or not. If you don’t agree to that premise, then there’s no point in discussing this with you.

              • archomrade [he/him]@midwest.social
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                8 months ago

                there is no moral imperative for people to create intangibles as they have no value.

                You’re right, there is no moral imperative for people to create (or share) intangibles, but nobody is claiming they have no value.

                If someone creates art that you like, they deserve to be paid for the time and effort it took to create that art whether the art itself is physically tangible or not.

                Again, is this a ethical, moral, or legal statement? It strikes me as a uniquely ideological statement, but you’ve not elaborated.

                • Zoolander@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  Everyone arguing that it’s not stealing is making the claim that it has no value.

                  Why does it matter? I would consider it moral and ethical but have no care whether it’s a legal one. I’m not disputing the legality of anything here (since I believe that the subject of the OP is also illegal - “Buying” something denotes ownership and, therefore, taking it away is also stealing).

                  Additionally, I do not have objections against piracy and think there are many legitimate reasons for it. I am only arguing against the mischaracterization and dishonesty of claiming that it is not stealing.

                  • archomrade [he/him]@midwest.social
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                    8 months ago

                    Everyone arguing that it’s not stealing is making the claim that it has no value.

                    Are you trying to conflate ‘value’ with ‘extractive market value’? There are lots of things that have innate value but have no or very little market value.

                    Why does it matter? I would consider it moral and ethical but have no care whether it’s a legal one.

                    It matters if anyone cares to understand what you’re actually asserting, since you’ve again claimed ‘I am only arguing against the mischaracterization and dishonesty of claiming that it is not stealing’. How can anyone understand what you mean without knowing what you take ‘stealing’ to mean, and why it matters?

                    Most people here would argue that a system that relies on exclusive ownership of ideas/digitally reproducible data in order to support those who do that labor (that we all benefit from) is one that is broken. In which case ‘stealing’ would be misplacing both to whom the harm being done and the party doing the harm, because it isn’t the fault of the artist or the consumer that the system withholds the means of living from those who are unable to justify their existence through labor.

      • null@slrpnk.net
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        8 months ago

        It is not stealing. The mental gymnastics are when you try to claim that it is.

        You’re stealing income from whoever created the content if you’re not paying them for your ability to watch it.

        It’s just as much “stealing” as me not watching it at all.

        I’m infringing on their copyright, absolutely, but I’m not taking anything away from them that they could otherwise profit from.

        • Zoolander@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          No it’s not. If you don’t pay for it, you don’t watch it. If they’re not entitled to your money, then you’re not entitled to the product of their time, effort, and labor.

          • the post of tom joad@sh.itjust.works
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            8 months ago

            If i could just teleport into your house so i could liberate your keyboard, i would. Because your take is so collosally stupid that it actually angers me that you have it.

            Like real, palpable rage that this insipid argument still exists in this world, after all this time.

            • Zoolander@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Ahh yes… the tried and true ad-hominem. No actual argument against the point, just childish name-calling and insults. Grow the fuck up.

              • the post of tom joad@sh.itjust.works
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                8 months ago

                An ad hominem would be if i avoided your point and instead attacked you as a person. I attacked the point itself as frivolous and years-debunked. Please… Listen… Your keyboard is suffering under the weight of false premise. Free it, please

                • Zoolander@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  You did not address the point at all. Nothing has been debunked. It cannot be debunked because it’s true - you are stealing something someone created, which they made in order to get paid and make a living, because you are ingesting it and not paying them.

                  Stop being dishonest.

                  • the post of tom joad@sh.itjust.works
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                    8 months ago

                    Provide to me a copy/paste definition of “false premise” so i know you know more fallacies than “strawman” and “ad hominem”. If i feel you learned something today ill call our little tete a tete a win.

                    (That was ad-hominem)

                • Zoolander@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  That’s not what ad-hominem is, “dude”. It’s still a superficial attack rather than an attack of the argument if there’s no substance to it to actually dispute the argument.

                  • Psychodelic@lemmy.world
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                    8 months ago

                    ad-hominem (adj.): (of an argument or reaction) directed against a person rather than the position they are maintaining.

                    Why did I have to look this up for you?

                    Think of it this way, saying your argument is stupid is similar to saying your argument is not valid, not sound, etc. Your response should be “why is it stupid?” or what’s wrong with my way of thinking?", not “stop attacking me, I’m under attack!” At the very least, don’t misappropriate a logical fallacy that doesn’t apply.

          • null@slrpnk.net
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            8 months ago

            That’s a valid opinion. It doesn’t change the fact that the crime is copyright infringement, not theft.

            • Zoolander@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              I’m not arguing the legal or criminal semantics. I’m arguing the dishonest justification and misrepresentation of piracy. Piracy is stealing. You’re stealing income from the creator if you ingest their work without paying for it. I don’t care if people pirate things but admit that it’s stealing and move on.

              • null@slrpnk.net
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                8 months ago

                Piracy is stealing.

                No it is not. By any definition.

                You can think it’s morally wrong, that’s fine. But it simply, factually is not stealing.

                That’s the only point I’m making.

                • Zoolander@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  Then we’ll have to agree to disagree. It doesn’t matter how many levels of abstraction or semantics you hide it behind, you’re gaining from something made by another person without returning that gain (whether financially or otherwise) to that person.

                  • null@slrpnk.net
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                    8 months ago

                    You’re welcome to disagree with any standardized definition you like. Seems like a pretty unwise thing to do, but that’s your prerogative.

          • Venia Silente@lemm.ee
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            8 months ago

            No it’s not. If you don’t pay for it, you don’t watch it.

            A friend bought a movie, invited me and 12 other people to watch it. Are we supposed to be legally required to say no?