Is it wrong to pirate movies I've purchased digitally and load onto my Plex server? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 year ago by adonkeystomple@lemmy.ml to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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Just would like to have a discussion on the topic. I've purchased around 20ish movies/shows on Vudu, and my wife has grown to be unhappy with Vudu's UI and especially how the watch progress works. I am curious what some others thoughts on this are. My initial thoughts are I recognize I've purchased a license to watch the content, but feel that because I've purchased it I should have the right to retain total control over it and do what I please. I would like to purchase movies on physical media from now on, but wouldn't like to repurchase all the same movies and shows again when I've already paid for them

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[-] viking@infosec.pub 10 points 1 year ago

Since you're talking about "wrong", rather than "illegal", you seem to approach this from a moral angle instead of a legal one. And when it comes to morality, that's something you can only define for yourself.

Personally I don't see any problems there, nor do I see a problem with pirating unlicensed content. If I would never have paid to watch a certain movie, the rightsholder doesn't make a factual loss. They can cry about opportunity costs all day long, but if it's not a "cinema vs. piracy" but a "piracy vs. nothing at all" discussion, it's pretty much a moot point.

[-] janguv@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago

And when it comes to morality, that's something you can only define for yourself.

Well the point of his coming here to discuss the ethics of it was to go beyond his own starting moral intuitions, to consider arguments and perspectives that pertain to the ethics of the act in question. The view that morality is a personal matter is a non-starter as far as moral philosophy goes. The ball is in OP's court over who/what to consult to find relevant ethical considerations, and it's up to him to reason those out and whether to follow them, but that doesn't make the ethics itself something for him to define.

[-] adonkeystomple@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah you've hit the nail on the head. I was merely trying to gain some perspectives outside my own. Ethics is not something for me to define at all. That being said, I've decided that I have paid for the media and as such have a right to retain full control over that media as long as I don't sell it or distribute it widely.