Re: Is it okay for a student with limited financial resources to pirate software?
 

@geohsia: All the points that you are making are already answered by my previous post. I guess ysss was right, nobody is gonna leave this thread any wiser :)

Don't be so hung up on the "selling IP" thing, it's not going to survive. I don't have to come up with a new system, someone else will soon enough.

The drug example that you give is a good way to show how the current system is broken, just change cancer with some common infectious disease. Generic drugs cost very little to produce, yet many millions go into the research of the original. If we don't protect the IP, the company who did the research doesn't get a return on their investment. If we do, millions of children die.

Re: Is it okay for a student with limited financial resources to pirate software?
 

There's an element of 'taking things for granted' and 'displaced sense of entitlement' that imho is the antagonist in this discussion.

Let's say a valuable IP has yet to be created. Choose your own example, something that is worthwhile to you and it takes significant resource to be developed and can't be done overnight:

- Cure for cancer
- An epic movie/game with huge budget
- An uber firmware for n900, giving it Rosetta Stone capability to run android, iOS, WebOS and WPhone7 compatibility
- Whatever

If said IP does not exist today and the creator asks you point blank "Will you pay $100 for this today, so I can work on it for the next x months and you can have it when it's finished?"

Then people will probably say "Yes." Because right now that LUXURY does not exist yet and they realize the true value of said IP.

Things evidently change drastically when said IP has materialized and it's just a matter of CTRL-C and CTRL-V combo to acquire it.

Re: Is it okay for a student with limited financial resources to pirate software?
 

True dat. Yet I wonder how many of the revolutionaries in the past were only in it for the loot.

Spot-on, again.

Re: Is it okay for a student with limited financial resources to pirate software?
 

You confuse advice to moral high ground. It is OK to serve as an example to others, is cought and punished. But if you ram people while drunk on a daily basis, no preaching.

Interesting fact: Hauling it half way across the globe before it spoils is prohibitive. Check your facts.

It sounds cool, and it gives people hope that there's enough food. There is no way to get it where it's needed. Thus, useless, and with countries throwing food and others starving.

From the same edition of agitator weekly, did yo know that the sun offers more than we need? It's just a matter of capturing it. Same problem. Prohibitive.

But it's easier if we have someone to blame. Damn (country here), they throw food and (country) starves.

Disagree. You can't compare a DVD with an addiction.

See above. It's like an uncought, bag full of loot, retired thief preaching honesty.

Just because one no longer steals doesn't mean it's aaaaalll better. One either has moral high ground or not.

Yes it's good advice and, of course, one is free to declare theft wrong, freedom of speech and all. One, however, should be prepared to be pointed back to a time when one ignored one's own advice.

My English is rusty. What is that word for people who preach but don't practice? The nature of the excuse is irellevant.

If anything, I was a pioneer for IT in a country ravaged by civil unrest. Back then, there was no law, it was legal to copy and sell whatever you wanted. I never used that as an excuse for piracy.

Re: Is it okay for a student with limited financial resources to pirate software?
 

As a content creator (I have registered copyrights and potential patents) *I* am very sure about it.

And you're making the common error of confusing the content with the conveyor. The value in the CD is not the material-- it's the magic in it.

If I make 100,000 boxed copies of a software product, is it okay for you to walk into a store and steal one?

If I decide to use the internet instead of boxes and CDs as my converyer (virtual packaging and distribution), and release 100,000 units as 100% digital instead, is it okay for you to download one without paying?

Those failing to see the equivalence are suffering a severe logic breakdown, and relying on rank rationalization to defend wrongful behavior. You're not buying the content-- you're paying for the right to USE it.

Re: Is it okay for a student with limited financial resources to pirate software?
 

Most staple foodstuffs will keep long enough. We're not talking about shipping ready cooked "big mac meals with fries" around the world :)

Re: Is it okay for a student with limited financial resources to pirate software?
 

I'm going to renege a little on my steadfast belief that pirating is wrong.

Pirating for the purpose of rebelling against DRM is justifiable.


EDIT: maybe not prices, at least not for all media.

Re: Is it okay for a student with limited financial resources to pirate software?
 

Round and round we go.

Drug companies routine license drugs for the third world so that it can be sold more cheaply in other markets.

The bigger question that will be debated though, is once you stop protecting IP, will that hinder competition and innovation. Newspapers used to be huge, but now that its free and anyone can get access to it anywhere, newspapers are a dying breed. If drug companies can't make millions, will they still try to innovate and spend the hundreds of millions / billions to bring a drug to market only to be sold out by another multinational that can crank out drugs faster and cheaper because they didn't have to do research?

Re: Is it okay for a student with limited financial resources to pirate software?
 

Um, we do that already today. Next time you're at the supermarket, look at the fruits and vegetables. See how many are from different countries. The world is a much smaller place than it used to be.

I get it, you're hung up on high moral ground. All I'm trying to do now is explain to others the impact of their actions. I'm not sure why you think that's important and I will not fight that battle. I will say there are recovered addicts and ex-convicts who have turned their life around and some have very inspiring messages, and can speak positively into the lives of those living in the same problems they used to face. They're not better or holier, but they do have experience they can draw from for wisdom.

The folks here seem honest and genuine, that don't support piracy. I'm sure all at some point have done some sort of piracy but now don't. I don't see why they're point of view is any less valid.

Re: Is it okay for a student with limited financial resources to pirate software?
 

Actually I think the big mac and fries will be around long after I've turned to dust. ;)