QOTD: Do You Think the Word 'Piracy' is Too Sexy?

[Guest]

Are you kidding? Brilliant. Just brilliant. Yes, as quickly as we can, let's change the name to something like low-down scum sucking thievery. That should do the trick, as obviously anyone known as a pirate would be horrified at being called a low-down scum sucking thief, and would cease and desist any criminal activity immediately. Yes, that should take care of the whole problem, and as a side effect there is a slight chance it would also help solve the global warming problem.
By the way, Haaland, I don't care for Johnny Depp and have never even once thought of him when the word "pirate" was used in any conversation in which I have been involved. Not everyone out here has been consumed by the bubble gum culture.

 

[toastninja17]

[citation][nom]toastninja17[/nom]Hah, yes yes and oh, did I say YES?[/citation]

To the article headline, I mean. It's pretty sexy, fun to say, too.

 

[betrayer_]

It doesn't matter if you change the name from pirate to thief, or anything else. People pirate digital content becos they can't/don't want to pay for it. Not because pirating sounds cool.

I mean, come on, today we use words like "bad", "wicked" and "sick" to mean "good". being a "gangsta" is cool.

Whatever name you call it people will eventually make is sound sexy. Unless of course you change it to "pedophile" or something really effed up like that. People would still pirate though, but they'll almost never admit to it then.

Personally I dont think there's anyway to completely stop piracy without some serious invasion of privacy.

 

[tjwoods]

The problem with words like piracy and theft is that they are associated with the theft of physical objects, and it is hard for people to see the relationship when they know they are not removing anything from anyone else's possession.

If you want a term to retain its derogatory connotation, it can't be something that they can immediately dismiss or replace with a fantasy version (like Johnny Depp's piracy). "Freetard" is already taken for rabid, ranting fans of FOSS, but maybe we could expand it to include infringers of media copyright as well.

 

[mauskau]

I think that the biggest reason the MPAA gets a load of crap over all of this whining is the fact that they have had record revenue for the past couple of years. It is difficult for a group to say "Piracy is killing us! Nobody can make money!" in one sentence and then turn around and talk about the record revenues that are being brought in. For those of us that aren't just sheep that think what we are told to their reasoning sounds awfully flawed. Not much of a deterrent to the piracy in that case.

 

[TheOnlyPenguin]

lol, changing the term would not deter people from downloading if they are downloading already. i personally find it amusing.

 

[marraco]

Today, games on Steam are cheaper than pirated copies.

Nonetheless, millions of persons simply don't have credit cards, to do internet purchases, and pirated copies, more expensive, are the only way to buy those games.

 

[victomofreality]

It's not just the term thats used it's the general lack of money. I would much rather go out and purchase the songs/movies cuz it's easier but being unemployed kinda makes that out of my price bracket atm.

 

[backin5]

Some tycoons who own half the world, who would patent the air we breathe if they could, who resort to massive layoffs instead of downsizing their own paycheck, and complain about how pirates rip off the hard working people that make music/movies/games while they themselves exploit their employees, are often called successful and ambitious.

Maybe instead we should call them evil and greedy?

Personally the word "piracy" doesn't really hold any positive connotation for me, though I can see how "theft" could be deemed as a far more negative word.

If The Walt Disney Company (just as an example, given the Johnny Depp reference) has problems with piracy, they can only blame themselves for "making pirates cool". Didn't they make sequels, a video game, and a theme park to make more money off the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise? In 2006 they actually sang a different tune as they discovered piracy as a business model.

 

[back_by_demand]

I download stuff that otherwise is covered by copyright and would have to pay for.

As long as I continue to not pay for it they can call me a Pirate, a Thief, a Scallywag, a Highwayman, a No-Good-Dirty-Rotten-Scoundrel, a Menace To Society, a Threat To National Security, a Terrorist, a Murderer or even the Mutha-Fuckin' Anti-Christ.

Didn't these guys ever learn from their mums? Sticks and stones may break my bones but changing what I do to a new alias, designation, handle, label, moniker, nom de guerre, nom de plume, pseudonym, sobriquet, tag or term is NOT going to stop me.

OOOOO!!!! Suddenly i'm not a Pirate i'm a nasty criminal!!!

Yeah whatever dude, i'm still downloading Lost and 24, see you in court if you ever catch me...

 

[Guest]

I disagree because the #1 pirates of the world are governments! & there's nothing sexy about them!

 

[turbolover22]

[citation][nom]bogcotton[/nom]Lol, all it would do is exactly nothing.People would still call it piracy.Unless they have a time machine, and can go back to before the term was coined, all they are doing is babbling about technicalities.[/citation]


It doesn't matter what she thinks. The term being used is the one that everyone recognizes. Just because she is some uppity-up in some company doesn't mean that just because 'she says so' the rest of the WORLD is going to abide by her desires. She might be able to convince her immediate subordinates by threatening their jobs, but that is all she is going to convince.

No matter how much money she or her company put into advertising a new term, it will never replace the term 'piracy'.

 

[bobiseverywhere]

This is a classic example of someone who is paid to much trying to justify their job by brining up pointless debate about classification of what name for a "illegal" act should be called or changed too. Will this affect any of the people that currently use P2P, No. Will it affect those that choose to try and make a profit from such things. No. This along with many other battles is just a feel good battle that will give many different people jobs and money, Somewhat like the war on Drugs. If anyone believes that it will go away by fighting as much as they do, we all have learned nothing from our past and here we can watch something else escalate to a point where will have fanatics and soon after fanatical acts. I hope it never comes to that but that would be the road i see all this heading on and changing a name of something is not about to stop anybody in todays society.

 

[bobiseverywhere]

[citation][nom]Camikazi[/nom]So the question facing all of us is do we stand up for what we believe? Or do we follow the law?[/citation]

Well that is always the question. Do the people finally stand up for what they believe in against those exploiting them, Or do we become even more submissive and just pay or 10% of our free income to be entertained for 2 hours.

 

[bobiseverywhere]

I did forget to mention that the fact that Hollywood Glamorizes the life of pirates and many other criminal types. You could say that some of this is a product of their own making. Constantly they show that being the outlaw or the underdog as the hero in many ways or just the misunderstood victim. Well now Hollywood can reap some rewards for their pillaging and plundering of all our wallets around the world. Maybe if we did not throw so much money at it they would also take the time to make better movies more often.

 

[Lutfij]

I"M A PIRATE!! ! ! !

 

[JonnyDough]

[citation][nom]bison88[/nom]No, I don't think it's being over sexualized. I do believe piracy is overrated though and blown out of proportion. It kills me to see those Corporate punks mainly from the MPAA/RIAA preaching at how evil we all are and damn near support "Terrorism" like the old Bush days where if you did drugs you supported "The Terrorists". Anyone remember those commercials?It's a shame both the music and movie industry have had some of there highest sales in history these past few years and yet if an album or movie flops PIRACY is to blame! No NO NO not the overpaid actors who force $20 million dollar contracts on producers, no its not because the musicians made a crappy album its because of PIRACY![/citation]

This is justification. You're trying to rest on the laurels of people who PAY. Just because they pay doesn't give you the right to steal.

 

[eddieroolz]

So instead of trying to find a way to effectively stop piracy, the would rather spend the time and money debating the terminology.

Come on, anti-piracy groups. Your lack of focus says something about your movement.

 

[Guest]

no... and can be different from place to place. e.g. even good man can turn "really" bad after a bad name is tagged fro him. Maybe that's the reason why more negative and or sarcastic name are used.

in fact from one of the article i read...
p2p = save $ & enviroment friendly = good.

Most of the media offered in stores are overpriced, toxic (think about disposal factor in the future), waste of physical storage space, easy to spoil(especially bluray!), maintenance heavy. etc.etc.

well, hard disk is getting bigger and cheaper. stuff from p2p are more compact and relativity high-quality in general. The best part is the usability fact is far more better.

so what about the artist and ppl working for the stuff? Well, audio and video entertainment is like everyday "water" for everyone and the technology has changed the possibility of ways of distribution and it became more "flexible"(hi speed connection, p2p tech, everyone have decent computer) and more "freedom"(technology enables fan-sub subtitle, advanced data compression etc.etc.). ok back to the point, the way how the "middleman" operates now may be obsolete and changing it to efficient way including how it financially works post negatively to the middleman they-think-they-can-make-a-lot-of-money.

Note: Article translated from china i tried to translate as best as i can and and i skipped a lot of the "scenarios" without getting off too much.

p2p reference: ppst*ream, qv*od, to*rrent, em*ule, na*mipan etc.

 

[Guest]

[citation][nom]ctct[/nom]no... and can be different from place to place. e.g. even good man can turn "really" bad after a bad name is tagged fro him. Maybe that's the reason why more negative and or sarcastic name are used. [/citation]
correction... are NOT used.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Changing the name would not deter people.

 

[christop]

why change it? what do they want to call it thief?

 

[steiner666]

LOL this is the dumbest thing I think i've ever heard from the anti-piracy groups, and that says A LOT! "Let's change the terminology, THAT'LL DO IT!"

imagine if someone were to actually think along the lines of "I was a good little corporate slave who was perfectly content with shelling out $20 for a DVD/CD. Then someone told me about piracy and, while I wasn't so sure that I wanted to get entertainment for free, the thought of being a "pirate" just sounded so cool and full of adventure!"

 

[cyb34]

"We're talking about making it impossible to make a living from what you do."

Then how come every DVD I download belongs to some multi-billion dollar company?

Piracy exists because nowadays the rich want to sell expensive shit to the poor, marketing the thing accordingly.

Its so easy to blame the poor societies when it comes to piracy, thats what happens when a company like Microsoft comes and tries to sell their 200$ products to people who earn that in a month.

Piracy will go down when prices will go down...

Until then, we are cool and you only have 2 cars instead of 3.

 

[methal]

Typical liberal idea. "its not piracy, its 'acquisition of non-physical materials through untaxable means.'"

give me a freaking break. If they didn't try to sell everything for WAY more than its worth, piracy would drop....a little.