No, it’s not like stealing a physical item from a store.

“stealing” a digital copy of a movie, tv show or a game is like if the item you’re stealing from a store is infinitely copyable. Like the replicator from star trek…or that one episode of Sabrina the teenage witch with that box that can make a perfect copy of everything you put inside of it.

Of course I personally would never pirate anything, no matter how much streaming services increase their prices or how much they crack down on VPN usage to get around geo-restrictions, PIRACY IS BAD AND ONLY BAD PEOPLE DO IT.

I’ve never pirated anything in my whole life!

There are people who understand what I’m saying…but apparently most people don’t get it.

Of course that means I still would never pirate anything. That would be horrible to “steal” a copy of a movie or a TV show

  • enkers@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. If buying isn’t owning, then pirating can’t be stealing.

  • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    The number of examples of media becoming unreachable to paying consumers keeps growing.

    Warner Brothers (Max) is the greatest example of this. Years of content from Cartoon Network just disappeared, leaving the consumer no legal avenue to enjoy some of their favorite shows.

    I do not advocate for piracy. I advocate for archiving.

    • MajorHavoc@programming.dev
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      2 months ago

      I do not advocate for piracy. I advocate for archiving.

      Exactly. And if the assholes make it illegal for librarians, well then yo ho ho.

  • Hegar@fedia.io
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    2 months ago

    Stealing a physical item from a giant corporate store is also always morally acceptable.

    Having power neurologically suppresses empathy. Therefor resources controlled by the powerful will on average be used more harmfully. Taking resources from the powerful reduces total harm done.

    You will use a loaf of bread less harmfully than Walmart will use the profit from it.

    • Mr. WorldWide@feddit.orgOP
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      2 months ago

      Stealing a physical item from a giant corporate store is also always morally acceptable.

      not really, it makes the store lock everything up behind plexiglass creating more friction for paying customers too.

      Of course, theft wouldn’t happen nearly as much if no one was desperate the survive, but even then there’d still be entitled assholes that want even more.

      • Hegar@fedia.io
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        2 months ago

        not really, it makes the store lock everything up behind plexiglass creating more friction for paying customers too.

        That’s not really harm in the way that hunger or poverty or lobbying against workers protections is harm. That’s more like a temporary inconvenience that doesn’t stop anyone getting what they need, right?

  • antlion@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 months ago

    The only person stealing is the one who circumvents the DRM and shares it. It’s not stealing to see or hear something.

  • noorbeast@lemmy.zip
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    2 months ago

    I would like to suggest an alternate perspective, that digital media be beholden to protocols not platforms.

    In other words lets focus on the drivers of competition…most evidence suggests that piracy goes down in response to easily accessible and affordable market conditions.

    • MajorHavoc@programming.dev
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      2 months ago

      most evidence suggests that piracy goes down in response to easily accessible and affordable market conditions.

      The assholes know this too. We’re about due for another round of deshitifcation, just long enough to restore complacency.

  • Evkob (they/them)@lemmy.ca
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    2 months ago

    No, it’s not like stealing a physical item from a store.

    I’d argue stealing physical items from massive corporations is also morally acceptable. If you shoplift from a small mom & pop store, you’re actively hurting your community, however, if you shoplift from Wal-Mart, you’re actively hurting an entity which is hurting your community, therefore helping your community.

    • Alice@beehaw.org
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      2 months ago

      Shoplifting from Walmart hurts my knees because the boss won’t believe that our onhand numbers are wrong and makes me check high and low before I can nil pick it 🥲

      This isn’t an ethical argument against shoplifting btw, this is an ethical argument in favor of nuking Walmart

    • Ulrich@feddit.org
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      2 months ago

      If you shoplift from a small mom & pop store, you’re actively hurting your community

      Unless you’re part of a riot, then it’s okay.

  • Cyrus Draegur@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    perhaps the only ethical consumption under capitalism is that which denies capitalists their profit.

      • WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        If the movie is good, you should support it by making a donation to the strike fund of the unions that represent the artists that actually create the movies. You can support artists without supporting the amoral companies that produce these works.

      • comfy@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        I mean…if the movie is good you should support it

        What is ‘it’? The movie is a published work, it can’t be financially supported. Who is being supported with the money you pay?

        Vote with your wallet.

        Unfortunately, consumer boycott (and conversely, support) usually isn’t an effective strategy at this scale you’re talking about. Unless you and all your friends are voting with a few thousand dollars, it’s hardly going to make a dent in the numbers.

    • CeruleanRuin@lemmings.world
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      2 months ago

      So long as people are starving under the system while others have yachts, the system is unethical, and thus following its rules – insofar as they perpetuate this inequity – is unethical.

  • Chozo@fedia.io
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    2 months ago

    “stealing” a digital copy of a movie, tv show or a game is like if the item you’re stealing from a store is infinitely copyable.

    What if it’s a physical Blu-ray? Those are infinitely copyable.

    • Mr. WorldWide@feddit.orgOP
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      2 months ago

      physical media is a physical it’s a finite item. digital media can be copied infinitely

      the reason why physical media is getting harder and harder to find is because the copyright nazis can’t control it. If they want to memory-hole a scene, they can’t change the content of that blu-ray disc with the original version on it

    • Mr. WorldWide@feddit.orgOP
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      2 months ago

      PIRACY IS WRONG AND IMMORAL! YOU SHOULD NEVER PIRATE ANYTHING! FRIENDS DON’T LET FRIENDS PIRATE THINGS!

  • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
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    2 months ago

    Worrying about “property” of any parasite is something that I never bother to do.

    Giving money to your event is idiotic tho.

    There is a class war out there and normies are too busy funding their oppressors

    • comfy@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      Giving money to your enemy is idiotic tho. There is a class war out there and normies are too busy funding their oppressors

      Absolutely. At the end of the day, most of the moral ideals being thrown around are, at the end of the day, nice ideas.

      Giant corporations exist to get more money and, history shows, media companies will happily brainwash us and buy oppressive politicians just to push their profits up. Furthermore, they serve as a megaphone for the ideas of the owner class, who are historically the core force behind fascism when society is in crisis.

      Giving them your resources is fucking suicidal.

  • Zier@fedia.io
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    2 months ago

    When you download music online for free and prevent the company from making a profit off of a creative work by the artist, that they prevented from making a profit & royalties, is that wrong? Doubtful. You can always send the artist money directly if you want to support them.

    • Mr. WorldWide@feddit.orgOP
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      2 months ago

      the DMCA doesn’t protect the artists or any of the singers, it protects the shitty record labels and the money that the executives at those companies get