Is it worth reporting people who pirate software?

[chk071]

Tbh, i can't comment on the US healthcare system at all, as i don't know enough about it. In germany, our healthcare system is mainly based on solidarity, so many of the mechanisms of the free market economy won't take effect there.

[Mushy Mushy]

Although you personally don't see the value in a $800 t-shirt, many do.

Of course it's priced normally. That's the target market.
People who spend this much on clothing wouldn't be seen dead in a $20 shirt.
Good luck to them I say. Wish I could do this.

Wow. You seriously wish you could spend $800 on a shirt?? I wish I had lots of money, but there's no way in hell I would WASTE it on obscenities like overpriced merchandise, and I wouldn't spend it on image.

That kind of spending isn't "normal" in any scope of the meaning of the word.

No, I wish I had the ability and means to do so.

If I had a spare $800 to be throwing around that flippantly this would mean zero financial worries and the ability to live out the various dreams and aspirations I mentioned previously. Travel, nice food, etc.

[vurt]

ooh the lego i could buy with 800 smackers!

[Jace-BeOS]

Although you personally don't see the value in a $800 t-shirt, many do.

Of course it's priced normally. That's the target market.
People who spend this much on clothing wouldn't be seen dead in a $20 shirt.
Good luck to them I say. Wish I could do this.

Wow. You seriously wish you could spend $800 on a shirt?? I wish I had lots of money, but there's no way in hell I would WASTE it on obscenities like overpriced merchandise, and I wouldn't spend it on image.

That kind of spending isn't "normal" in any scope of the meaning of the word.

No, I wish I had the ability and means to do so.

If I had a spare $800 to be throwing around that flippantly this would mean zero financial worries and the ability to live out the various dreams and aspirations I mentioned previously. Travel, nice food, etc.

Ah. Understood. Cheers

[gamecat666]

ooh the lego i could buy with 800 smackers!

not a huge amount given current prices

[Numanoid]

How did this thread turn from an issue about piracy to $800 bling?

I'm gonna quote multi-millionaire Larry Bird, trying to quench his thirst in Monte Carlo enroute to the 1992 Olympics:

"You can keep your $7 beer"

[nasenmann]

wanted to stay out of this too, but gotta say something about the word "steal": it's just not a very accurate word in the context of pirating software, with everything it connotes. "unauthorized use" is more fitting. 'course i don't expect people to type that up everytime, so "stealing" has to suffice, but wanted to note that it's kind of a dated and imprecise word in the digital distribution context.
i view warezing as bad ethically, but nowhere near as bad as taking someone's physical stuff, which is effectively gone then.

i think the most interesting thing about piracy and the outrage it causes in some is that we live in times where it's obvious on many fronts that ideas are becoming infinitely more important than the materials used to make said ideas a reality.
with intellectual property becoming more and more dominant, the whole sense of property is also becoming more and more elusive, slowly.

i seriously believe that if we don't blow ourselves up and instead go through a good amount of transformations and revolutions of thought, the idea of intellectual property is naturally going to become pretty ludicrous at some point.
there is something to be said for an utopia in which free sharing of information, knowledge, forms of experience and entertainment is the main ethical focus.

piracy is *sorta* crudely foreshadowing that, but at the same time is causing harm in a world that works very differently.
i didn't stop pirating back then because i wanna be "lawful". i stopped it because we don't live in times where everyone is sure to have his required piece of the pie.
KVR helped with that as you get a better sense here of the fine individuals making the software, and how small the enterprises usually are. makes it very easy to empathize.

on piracy killing the music industry, maybe so, maybe not, but dinosaurs are gonna die, and mayybe a phoenix is gonna arise.
who knows, we're right in the process of it. pretty exciting times, no?

[BERFAB]

However, while you may not agree with certain laws, generally speaking, banks and governments don't 'steal' your money. They get your money using laws that are on the books. Usually. Not to say that it DOESN'T happen, but when your money is taken by them illegally, you can, and should, report them as well.

I'm sure that there is stealing that is lawful or just some things are really hard to enforce due to the blurring of individual and corporation. I don't think 'law' and 'ethics' are synonyms, so I think 'lawful' cannot through itself vacate 'theft' as you are seeking here.

Well, no, actually. Law does vacate theft, at least legally speaking. I fully agree that law does not equal ethics, but the OP's question is "do you report it?"

Exactly what are you going to report, and to whom are you going to report it, when your money is taken by legal means?

You may, for example, not like it when your bank charges you for withdrawing your own money from an ATM. But that charge is part of a legal contract between you and your bank. Many may call it "theft," but no laws have been broken.

-B

[robogone]

Let them eat cake

hows it going mr kipling?

Exceedingly good.

Seriously, how is it that no one else said that first?

[SampleScience]

I think to report the illegal links is worth it. One of my product has been pirated, and since then, I haven't sold any copies of it. The rest of my catalog sells well. Piracy won't stop me from making new soundwares, but it certainly don't motivates me to put as much time as I would now that I know piracy cut sales. I'd rather concentrate on other activities that I like too and in which I can make an income.

[LimboLoves]

I think to report the illegal links is worth it. One of my product has been pirated, and since then, I haven't sold any copies of it. The rest of my catalog sells well. Piracy won't stop me from making new soundwares, but it certainly don't motivates me to put as much time as I would now that I know piracy cut sales. I'd rather concentrate on other activities that I like too and in which I can make an income.

If you go to the forums where EDM is prevalent, and a lot of younger kids go to, you will get sad. Sample packs are bought and then posted online as "My favorite 20 kicks" or w/e. A mod once called a guy out for putting paid for samples (probably pirated) in a pack he called his own. What happened? Mod is down-voted into oblivion and most people complain about his "hitleresque" policing.

I am working on a sample pack and I want to try selling it, or at the worst donation-ware. I would be sad to see my stuff on a pirated link and hear that it's popular. I mean, I have already spent 20 hours sampling and gating/noise reduction/reverb/compression/eq/etc. and it would break my heart to not get anything for it. Now, if it wasn't liked at all, then thats ok, but nothing gets pirated that sucks.