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Software News : Why is it 'OK' to nick software? |
posted by DaveyD on 9-Jul-2003 15:23:53 (2948 reads) |
What's the difference between ripping software and shoplifting? None. Yet millions of us twist the arguments and kid ourselves we are not hardened criminals.
Call me prejudiced, but from what I know, I'd say you could well be a criminal.
If you're computer-literate enough to be reading this, there's a strong chance you will know how to copy expensive design software from your friends, or download alien-shooting games from the net without paying. And if you know how to, then the chances are you've done it.
The likes of you and me wouldn't normally like to think of ourselves as thieves. We don't pocket CDs in HMV or triple chocolate muffins in Tescos. So why are we happy to steal electronically?
According to the industry, it's because we're a pack of immoral cyber bandits. Developers across the world lose $11bn a year in business software alone, says the Business Software Alliance. It estimates nine out of 10 programs sold on auction sites are pirated.
The booty on your hard drive cost Americans 111,000 jobs in 2001, $5.6bn in lost wages and $1.5bn in unpaid tax. If that doesn't make you feel a twinge of guilt, you're obviously a hardened crook and should consider becoming a career criminal or an oil executive.
Admittedly, the figures may be inflated. How do they know you would have bought the software if you hadn't half-inched it? And how do we know that if you'd paid for it they would have spent the money on creating new jobs, rather than on executive jacuzzis or a new laser corkscrew for Mrs Gates?
Deflate the figures if you like, deep down they still remind us of what we always knew: our virtual shoplifting may feel safe, respectable and innocuous, but that doesn't stop it harming anyone.
When you make it out of the doors of cyberspace with your Mac bulging, someone somewhere loses out.
Stubborn little icons
All of which is terribly obvious and brings us back to the question why do we feel so comfortable with our theft?
Because it's virtual? We haven't taken anything solid or physical, so we don't feel we've taken anything at all. I'm sure that's part of it, although the icon stubbornly remains on the desktop, reproaching us every time we use it.
Another reason is our uncertainty that we've stolen anything. How can we have, when no one has lost anything they used to have? A valid philosophical question to be sure, though the law doesn't see it that way.
But the most important reason is also the most depressing. We don't feel bad because there's no risk of our being caught and punished. If I pocketed a bottle of whisky in the supermarket I'd be so anxious about the security guards grabbing me, plagued with visions of shame and humiliation, police cars and magistrates, that even if I got away with it I'd feel horribly guilty.
That doesn't happen with computer applications, even though they tend to cost much more than the kind of whisky I buy.
Ill-gotten games
This isn't a flattering thought. It suggests the main reason I tend to behave decently and honestly (in my own way) is not that I am decent and honest, but that I know bad things will happen if I don't.
There's one more reason why we're not more troubled by our ill-gotten games, I think. It's that we don't really mind ripping off huge fat-cat corporations, which would probably do the same to us given half the chance.
The ethics of intellectual property are not only about individuals. If companies charge extortionate prices because they can, perhaps they ought to get their own house in order before suing customers. And if they package their software in sweatshops, who's ripping off whom?
Consider the cautionary tale of music CDs. Everyone, bar the music industry, agrees they've been sold at vastly inflated prices since the 80s. Along come CD writers and MP3s and the market collapses about their ears. Who's surprised?
If bootlegging acts as a safety valve to keep software prices sensible, might that not be such a bad thing after all?
So what are we to do? Perhaps "trial piracy" could offer a reasonable compromise between us and the marketers. The unconventional software billionaire Kai Krause suggests this rule of thumb: "If it's still on your hard drive after a year, pay for it.'
And if you can't manage that much, you can just relax in the knowledge that you are simply a Bad Person. At least you're not alone.
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Poster | Thread | Agafaster
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Re: Why is it 'OK' to nick software? Posted on 9-Jul-2003 15:42:39
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Super Member |
Joined: 10-Mar-2003 Posts: 1413
From: West Midlands, England - sector ZZ9 plural Z alpha | | |
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Consider the cautionary tale of music CDs. Everyone, bar the music industry, agrees they've been sold at vastly inflated prices since the 80s. Along come CD writers and MP3s and the market collapses about their ears. Who's surprised?
If bootlegging acts as a safety valve to keep software prices sensible, might that not be such a bad thing after all? |
I bought MetallicA's newest from Safeways in Sedgley for 12 quid.
is this a sign ?
It doesnt seem long ago that I bought a cassette for a tenner instead of forking 15 quid for the preferred CD, so I hope so. (mind you I also bought the (not ripped off !) DVD of Full Monty for a fiver, so it also pays to not be first, sometimes !) _________________ XH558 - the worlds last flying Vulcan. ok, its actually XL426 in the picture but you know what I mean.
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| | The_Editor
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Re: Why is it 'OK' to nick software? Posted on 9-Jul-2003 17:55:34
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Elite Member |
Joined: 7-Mar-2003 Posts: 7629
From: 192.168.0.02 ..Pederburgh .. Iceni | | |
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or triple chocolate muffins in Tescos. |
Speak for yourself !!
*Buuuuuuuuuuuuuurp* _________________ ****************************************** I dont suffer from Insanity - I enjoy it
******************************************
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| | CodeSmith
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Re: Why is it 'OK' to nick software? Posted on 9-Jul-2003 19:10:36
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Elite Member |
Joined: 8-Mar-2003 Posts: 3045
From: USA | | |
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If that doesn't make you feel a twinge of guilt, you're obviously a hardened crook and should consider becoming a career criminal |
It's statements like this that hurt anti-piracy advocates. Why can't you just stop at saying that copying software from a friend is wrong? According to that statement, it seems like it's a short step from grabbing an MP3 from napster to holding a gun to someone's head saying "your wallet, please". It's all just theft by hardened criminals after all.
Copying software (or music, or anything people charge money for) is WRONG, but it's stupid to treat it like a "gateway drug". It only makes file-swappers think people are just overreacting, and there's no social pressure to change. |
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| | Toaks
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Re: Why is it 'OK' to nick software? Posted on 9-Jul-2003 19:49:50
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Elite Member |
Joined: 10-Mar-2003 Posts: 8042
From: amigaguru.com | | |
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| here is a fact from me... i dont know if itapplies to others here....but here goes..
1. if its something i want , i BUY IT! (ie if its a label i know of from before, ie like DUNE (music) , aha (music) etc.
2. if it hadnt been for radio stations and mp3 files , well then the bloody music would have passed straight by me, ie i listen to radio (real radio, not inet radio) almost 12 hours a day, and seriously there is like 1 or 2 songs a day i would buy, i normally buy em on a collect cd or dont buy em at all and i dont even bother to download the mp3 unless someone gives it to me.
thats me, but then again i aint into the hIphop hype nor the crappy music that is going on atm.
i like real music :)
(i have about 300 cd's in my house, bought em over a 10 years period, and i suspect it wont grow that much really, except for some new trance and rave cds....)
anyway without mp3 for many, this would mean that they wouldnt even have heard the damn song, and thats a FACt! , and normal people (not collectors and leechers etc) will buy that cd if its worth it, and by that i dont mean 1 song is cool (the one u allready had on mp3) and 13 more songs on the cd is utter crap...
(maybe i am getting old? :) ) _________________ See my blog and collection website! . https://www.blog.amigaguru.com
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| | alx
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Re: Why is it 'OK' to nick software? Posted on 9-Jul-2003 21:56:47
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Super Member |
Joined: 7-Mar-2003 Posts: 1224
From: Midlands, UK | | |
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| | Wain
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Re: Why is it 'OK' to nick software? Posted on 9-Jul-2003 22:10:37
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Member |
Joined: 14-Mar-2003 Posts: 78
From: Unknown | | |
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Consider the cautionary tale of music CDs. Everyone, bar the music industry, agrees they've been sold at vastly inflated prices since the 80s. Along come CD writers and MP3s and the market collapses about their ears. Who's surprised? |
Not to start a completely OFF-TOPIC discussion, because I completely agree with your point, but I wanted to make note that there is strong evidence contrary to the RIAA's published opinion that MP3's and blank CD's are what has caused their losses over the past 5 years, mainly relating to poor economy, CD price fixing, and lack of new material among a few other things. |
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| | Salup
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Re: Why is it 'OK' to nick software? Posted on 10-Jul-2003 1:07:20
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Member |
Joined: 12-Jun-2003 Posts: 44
From: Sydney | | |
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| Quote:
The booty on your hard drive cost Americans 111,000 jobs in 2001, $5.6bn in lost wages and $1.5bn in unpaid tax. If that doesn't make you feel a twinge of guilt, you're obviously a hardened crook and should consider becoming a career criminal or an oil executive. |
Don´t you think people spend that money on other things? There is no loss of jobs, wages and taxes.
Nobody loses anything if i copy for example OfficeXP. There is no production cost for my copy and I couldn´t afford it even if I wanted to. |
| Status: Offline |
| | Anonymous
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Re: Why is it 'OK' to nick software? Posted on 10-Jul-2003 10:12:56
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| | Not only do many people "nick" music, a lot of people also break the speed limit, reverse onto main roads, jump red lights, make startling noises with their car. All of these are illegal and all of them make people criminals. There are also people who kill and murder, sell drugs, traffic young girls from third world countries to be sold into slavery as prostitues. All this is illegal.
The industry's theory on piracy is that the pirates would buy what they steal, which is a flawed one.The lost revenue is probably much smaller in reality than what they quote. Of course if you start talking about bootleggers or massive operations to copy and sell thats a whole different thing altogether
Piracy is just an indicator of social unrest and consumer dissatisfaction. The problem will continue to get worse as the companys do nothing to meet the demands of people. Easily accessed and available cheap and versatile media, mp3's distributed over the internet is just one example of this.
Governments should not be passing laws that remove the rights from the consumer and give it to the corporations. the opposite should be done. after all the government is supposed to be governing for the people. the whole democracy idea is why they have been voted in, in the first place.
As I mentioned before there are many worse crimes than stealing music that continue to happen, and the fact that such a minor crime has so many billions of money spent on it, whilst other heinous crimes can barely rub a pair of penny's together, is just another social indicator of the type of unjust society we live in.
When will people live by the laws? When everyone else does, that means an end to corruption, double standards, lies, deceit and all the other things which are considered normal practice in western civilisation.
Why is it considered ok to steal music, or software or whatever, to break the laws of our countrys to our own benefit? Well everyone else does it, and a lot of people get away with it. Why should the people be the one's who come off worst? They shouldn't, but the only way is to break laws. |
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| | Anonymous
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Re: Why is it 'OK' to nick software? Posted on 10-Jul-2003 10:27:54
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Poster: alx Date: 9-Jul-2003 21:56:47
Reminds me of this video someone posted on /.
Don't copy that floppy!
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Hee hee, I want a game which allows me to randomly hit keys on a keyboard. Even daley thompsons athletics required you to press two buttons with a rhythm. |
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| | Quixote
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Re: Why is it 'OK' to nick software? Posted on 11-Jul-2003 2:07:22
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Regular Member |
Joined: 23-Jun-2003 Posts: 481
From: Unknown | | |
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| Entropy entreated:Quote:
When will people live by the laws? When everyone else does, that means an end to corruption, double standards, lies, deceit and all the other things which are considered normal practice in western civilisation. | If everyone waited on the other fellow to clean up his act first, we'd never get anywhere. Besides, you have no say in what you neighbor does with his hands; they're attached to the ends of his arms instead of yours.
You want your neighbor to stop pirating software? Start by setting the good example, instead of the other kind. _________________
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| Status: Offline |
| | Anonymous
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Re: Why is it 'OK' to nick software? Posted on 11-Jul-2003 9:07:38
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Entropy entreated: Quote:
When will people live by the laws? When everyone else does, that means an end to corruption, double standards, lies, deceit and all the other things which are considered normal practice in western civilisation.
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If everyone waited on the other fellow to clean up his act first, we'd never get anywhere.
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I disagree, I think we'd be where we are, very few people have the presence of mind to live by principles. They would probably call it the difefrence between theory and practice. I think your right tho it is just being a lazy person, but so is not taking an active role in governing your country which can be said for probably 50% of the population.
Quote:
You want your neighbor to stop pirating software? Start by setting the good example, instead of the other kind. |
An idealistic view, and certainly one I think should be encouraged. I don't think it really works like that at least where I live. If you aren't wiling to bend the rules you tend to be seen as a sociopath, or putting on air's. |
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| | Anonymous
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Re: Why is it 'OK' to nick software? Posted on 11-Jul-2003 21:44:58
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| | Ya know, if nobody copied software, and bought everything that they used, Mr Gates would be a very rich man |
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| | Valiant
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Re: Why is it 'OK' to nick software? Posted on 2-Jan-2011 18:10:36
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Super Member |
Joined: 22-Oct-2003 Posts: 1110
From: West of Eden, VT USA | | |
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| What's a Tesco?
;^) _________________ -- -=#Val#=- Valiant@Camelot
Amiga 1000; Amiga 2000; Amiga 3000T; CD-TV; CD32; AmigaOne-XE 800Mhz G4;Sam400ep 666Mhz; AmigaOne X-1000 1.8Ghz PA6T-1682M
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