[citation][nom]theshonen8899[/nom]There are many reasons file-sharing benefits organizations. For instance, consider Adobe Photoshop. If Adobe Photoshop wasn't being distributed illegally, how would people know how to use it? They'd be restricted to using it in computer labs or shelling out $700 for their own copy. Would anyone in their right mind pay $700 for a software they have no idea how to use? The fact that it's being distributed illegally allows Photoshop to be the golden standard in image editing. No other software is capable of taking Photoshop's crown because everyone uses it. Now it must be used in schools and workplaces (the places that cannot operate with illegal software because workers are rewarded for reporting malpractice and who make up almost all of Adobe's income). The same can easily be said about Microsoft Windows/Office. Software corporations need pirates and pirates need them. It's a beautiful relationship.[/citation]
It's a good thing there are stolen cars everywhere, how else would anyone know how to drive? They would be restricted to learning how to drive in someone else's car or shelling out to buy their own! Why would someone pay thousands of dollars for something they don't know how to use? Bicycles are unable to take car's crown because everyone uses them. Now it must be used on roads (the places where you can't drive stolen cars which is where car companies make most their money). Car thieves and car companies have a beautiful relationship.
Oh wait that's incredibly stupid, and also not true. It's almost like photoshop is demonstrably superior to its cheaper competitors, providing added convenience and a significant increase in value. This, rather than its widespread pirating (as if it's any easier to pirate than its cheaper competitors) is what makes it the gold standard, and you pay a price premium for that. Yes, even if you don't know how to use it first.
As for the other arguments regarding why pirating is A-OK: The 'no-loss' argument can be applied just as well to shoplifting, as maybe if I like that thing I stole I'll go back and pay for it! Right? Regardless of whether or not a physical thing has been stolen, piracy represents a lost sale. "BUT THEY CAN STILL SELL IT TO SOMEONE ELSE" means nothing, because they can't still sell it to YOU. You already have it. That is money out of their pocket. Don't act like the ONLY people who pirate are those who can't afford it, either. Piracy numbers may be overstated from those who wouldn't buy but do pirate, but a significant chunk are people who just logically take the free alternative to actually purchasing a product.
On that note, try stealing a car and getting off in court by saying "But I couldn't afford it, and it's not like greedy Toyota needs that money! What's a couple thousand to them?" Good luck there.
Which segues nicely to the topic of corporate greed: Let's say your boss said to you "hey, you're made 50% more money for me this year over last year, but don't ask me for a raise because you make enough already and that would be GREEDY." Our entire society, good and bad, is based on greed. "It is not through the good will of the butcher or the baker..." Do you think Tom's runs this site out of the goodness of their hearts? They do it so they can feed their families with the ad revenue. If more of us start browsing, don't you think they'd raise the rates they charge the ad companies? Would that make them GREEDY?
Yes, CEO salaries are off the chain. But let's say you stick it to 'em and pirate. Guess what: the CEO's exorbitant salary is not the first thing cut when the revenues go down. They start getting tighter about investing in new products, and they start dropping off workers at the lowest rungs. The CEO doesn't really get hurt until things get so bad that the company folds, and even then they get a golden parachute and probably find a job at another firm. Meanwhile, the company's hundreds of workers are out of a job and out of luck, and that company won't be around anymore to develop the software that you liked enough to pirate. You really stuck it to that CEO, huh! Hypothetical, of course, as piracy margins are never enough to hurt a company that much, but you are causing real and direct harm to the first step on the 'reduce expenses' chain: "expendable" workers, and any investment that isn't a sure thing (i.e. a videogame that isn't a gray-and-brown-cover-based-shooter).
Also, as to the "why don't you fix the economy instead of stopping people from stealing..." the last time I checked, if companies lose less money to piracy, they will have more to invest, creating jobs and, surprise! Help the economy.
Complaints about how these raids are mostly for show and will have little impact on piracy or filesharing in general are.. pretty accurate. There just isn't international law in place to deal with IT issues in any real way, and lawmakers generally don't understand it well enough to move forward.. so pirate on, I guess!
Jerks.
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