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Unpopular Opinion
Welcome to the Unpopular Opinion community!
How voting works:
Vote the opposite of the norm.
If you agree that the opinion is unpopular give it an arrow up. If it's something that's widely accepted, give it an arrow down.
Guidelines:
Tag your post, if possible (not required)
- If your post is a "General" unpopular opinion, start the subject with [GENERAL].
- If it is a Lemmy-specific unpopular opinion, start it with [LEMMY].
Rules:
1. NO POLITICS
Politics is everywhere. Let's make this about [general] and [lemmy] - specific topics, and keep politics out of it.
2. Be civil.
Disagreements happen, but that doesn’t provide the right to personally attack others. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Please also refrain from gatekeeping others' opinions.
3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.
Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.
4. Shitposts and memes are allowed but...
Only until they prove to be a problem. They can and will be removed at moderator discretion.
5. No trolling.
This shouldn't need an explanation. If your post or comment is made just to get a rise with no real value, it will be removed. You do this too often, you will get a vacation to touch grass, away from this community for 1 or more days. Repeat offenses will result in a perma-ban.
Instance-wide rules always apply. https://legal.lemmy.world/tos/
Piracy is stealing.
Not really, there is no property loss. Nothing was taken. That's like saying taking a picture of a piece of art is stealing.
No.
What is stealing prey tell? I think it's wrongfully taking something from someone.
Exactly. Glad we're on the same page.
Nothing was taken. It is a copy. The original is still exactly where is was. It is by definition not theft.
Copies that weren't paid for.
But not taken, so not stealing by my definition you seemed to agree with
If you don't pay for something then it's theft. I win.
Charity?
But piracy takes nothing. The original owner still has it.
Who are you taking things from? Is the grocery store example wrong as well?
Crime is badass.
Die in a police shootout then.
Dramatic much?
:(
If I download something that I never would have paid for anyway, either because I just wouldn't pay for that product, or because I literally cannot pay for that product, who has lost out? I haven't deprived anyone of anything. It's not like I've taken a physical thing away from them.
Yes you have.
How? I was never going to give them money. Digital files are not a finite resource. How have I deprived them of anything?
Because you didn't properly pay for it.
Are you being obstinate on purpose, or do you really not understand? I would not pay for these files. There is zero per cent chance of this company getting my money. How have they lost out by my copying these files?
I'm stubborn.
You're an idiot troll, I see.
No, I am set in my opinion.
What about a game or movie you've already bought? Are you morality allowed to copy it for your own use in your system?
No.
That form of piracy is even legal.
Ok but then you create a production problem.
You download it, but that piece of media still had a cost of production. If you don't pay for it then the producers must find other monetization methods.
It's one of the reasons the modern web is based off ads, or why free-to-play with microtransanction is so common.
I'm not suggesting that I do this for everything, or that everyone should do it constantly. For example, I bought Baldur's Gate 3 on release, as it seemed worth it. But Ubisoft's latest shitfest? Probably might be worth a pirate, see if I enjoy it. If I do really enjoy it, I might buy the game. Or I might not, since Ubisoft are a bunch of utter cunts.
But here comes a problem of fairness.
You not only want to play the game, you also want to decide how much is worthed for the producer. If the price is too high, don't play it. Imagine going to a restaurant and saying "sure, cook for me, I'll later pay you if and how much I think it will worthed"
Not only this but:
Because you acknowledge the damaging nature of piracy, not only that, you also decide that rules are applied arbitrarily, which is a terrible thing to base your system on.