Is Piracy Ever OK?

[William_White]

Let me start off with I do not condone piracy in general, but I can think of 2 reasons why it would be OK to pirate a game or OS.

If the game or OS is no longer available, example Windows XP it is unavailable and yes there is Linux and yes you can use WINE for most things, but some older games need Windows XP (or even older) to function properly.

The game is available but at nostalgia prices, example Mechwarrior 4 compilation for 125$ that's more then I paid for it new. MWO has no madcat 🙁

 

[Sunius]

I've read somewhere that it's legal to copy software after some time has passed since its creation - though I cannot remember how many years it was. Maybe 15?

 

[kyzarvs]

I pay lovefilm every month, but still download movies purely because the LF interface is so useless on the PS3 (why cant LF and Netflix work as well as iPlayer on the PS3?????). I want to support the film industry, so I pay for LF that I do not use...

 

[darth pravus]

Old software I see as absolutely fine as they don't sell it anymore so cannot in any way claim to have lost money.

 

[casualcolors]

If you see an irresistible merchant ship with a downed sail, I hardly think anyone could blame you for a bit of pillaging.

We're all coxswains here, right?

 

[simon12]

If you are asking is it morally OK then everyone will have a different opinion but legally OK no as anything not illegal is not called piracy.

 

[cats_Paw]

Ill give you guys a real life example here:

I got a game i loved for the story : Summoner I.
After some time, the company running the server for online gaming (THQ) killed the server, and retired the game from their sites like it never existed.

Now, i want to play that game online with my friends. So, in theory, i cant becouse i am not allowed to make servers for that game at all. Its in fact piracy to do so.

So, i bought a game and the company providing the service has stoped providing it. By definition in law, i no longer have to pay for that service, nor should anybody else, since its not provided, however if i copy the game so i can play with friends i will have problems.

The main reason we even have these discussions is because we dont have a decent set of laws for pc/console/tv electronics to fall back on.

Most of the terms of agreement in games are abusive like hell, and can be changed without the autorization of the user. Fortnatelly, you can "not agree" on a change and go back to a store and return the game (good luck trying to do that).

 

[Serthy]

Ill give you guys a real life example here:

I got a game i loved for the story : Summoner I.
After some time, the company running the server for online gaming (THQ) killed the server, and retired the game from their sites like it never existed.

Now, i want to play that game online with my friends. So, in theory, i cant becouse i am not allowed to make servers for that game at all. Its in fact piracy to do so.

So, i bought a game and the company providing the service has stoped providing it. By definition in law, i no longer have to pay for that service, nor should anybody else, since its not provided, however if i copy the game so i can play with friends i will have problems.

The main reason we even have these discussions is because we dont have a decent set of laws for pc/console/tv electronics to fall back on.

Most of the terms of agreement in games are abusive like hell, and can be changed without the autorization of the user. Fortnatelly, you can "not agree" on a change and go back to a store and return the game (good luck trying to do that).

I could be wrong, but if the product is discontinued the intellectual properties are still property of the company but since they do not offer the product anymore, and you buy it from a private party, that wouldn't be considered piracy because the company isn't making money on the deal and your receiving an extra copy of the said game.

Now that goes with making copies, a company makes said product, discontinues said product, you make copies of said product, give out copies for free, company doesn't lose money because they have stopped making said product.

I could be wrong, but to me that makes sense.

 

[das_stig]

Yes, when you use a machine belonging to the MPAA, Sony, United Artist etc to download your pron and movies via BT.

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

NO...ILLEGAL does NOT have a time limit....

All the best Brett

 

[Ahumado]

It's better not to buy the game then steal it. It's better to wait til the price is in a range you are comfortable with (for me...$20 or less, game dependent) then steal it. It is never OK to steal unless it is off with your girlfriend for some good lovin'

 

[chain220]

I say yes in certain cases. I bought a the original Call of Duty a while back but lost the CDs.. in a case like this I think it's okay (and I believe it might be legal?) to download the game through a torrent or similar method since I still have, and used, a key I purchased for the game. I'm not sure if this situation would be considered pirating but I would say it's an alright situation to download the game through a torrent.

 

[William_White]

I'm not saying that pirating games is ok all the time and what you should do to get all of your games. I would not go download Far Cry 3 and Windows 8, partly because they are new and they are being watched, but mainly because in a month FC3 will be down to 20$ on steam, and I can clone my HDD for any new computer I build (legality of this is also questionable but I bought W7 with my money) I am showing two examples when I would consider it OK, unless you can give me a better option (or even an equivalent) that is 100% legal.

Hi

NO...ILLEGAL does NOT have a time limit....

All the best Brett

Yes it does, 70 years after creators death or 120 years after publication, in the US atleast. Nothing related to computers falls under that though and when they do most of us will be dead, if we get past friday of course

 

[davidzanemason]

This is from the Wiki:

In most cases, software classed as abandonware is not in the public domain, as it has never had its original copyright revoked and some company or individual still owns exclusive rights. Therefore, sharing of such software is usually considered copyright infringement, though in practice copyright holders rarely enforce their abandonware copyrights.

So: even abandonware is illegal - and falls under current US copyright law.

My opinion (shared by some): is that US copyright law regarding digitial media is certainly outdated, stupid and draconian.

If I download Nirvana's Nevermind CD and it had 10 tracks (or whatever), then I could potentially be fined something like $1,500,000 ($150,000 per song). I'm pretty sure (as a first time offender) that if I walked into walmart and stole it (and got arrested) I'd get a slap on the wrist and community service. Is this ethical and moral? It is currently LEGAL. Housewives and nerds can be put it debt for the rest of their lives.

 

[jaguarskx]

Is Piracy Ever OK?

Only when I can kill people and need not worry about the consequences.