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this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2023
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Asklemmy
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No, I don't, because I can afford stuff and pirating in this situation would be just pure stealing which I believe is morally wrong. Yes, being a billionaire is usually morally wrong too but I don't think it just cancels out.
Justifying piracy by saying capitalism is bad sounds like a hypocrisy to me. You want to use something that exists thanks to capitalism without participating in it. You want to eat your cake and have it too.
Now, the case is different for people that can't afford stuff, especially when they genuinely need it (but I don't draw the line at entertainment, after all people NEED entertainment too). In that case, please pirate away. Everyone deserves a decent life. In general, I largely agree with OP's friend.
Stealing suggests they don't have the content anymore; they do. "Copying" is the word you're looking for.
The whole "stealing" comparison rather breaks down when there is basically no scarcity / no cost to duplicating and distributing what has been produced
Even arguing it's "stealing" because it deprives the publisher of the cost isn't exactly true, because it only holds if you'd actually have ponied up were the content not available for free (I know for sure I definitely wouldn't have played some games or watched some shows if I had had to actually pay for them)
Artistic content is, believe it or not, produced outside of capitalism as well. And in capitalist societies it often is produced despite capitalism, not thanks to it, and one could argue capitalism itself is a large part of the reason that content's quality has taken a dive over the past decades
I definitely mean "stealing" as "depriving the publisher of the cost". Limiting the term "stealing" just to moving physical objects really makes no sense in the current world.
That's an interesting case I never really considered. If you only genuinely pirate stuff you would never buy otherwise then... I guess it's fine? But this alone doesn't put the end to the discussion because I find it really hard to believe that people would just give up all of the stuff they pirate if they had to pay for it. But in some cases, sure, sounds reasonable.
That's true of course but I don't think just pretending we don't live in a capitalist world and taking stuff for free is making this world better in any way.
Let's say something costs $20, from which 75% goes to make some rich guy even richer and only 25% goes to the actual author who put in the work. It's more important to me to give that $5 to the author than NOT to give the $15 to the rich guy. Would I prefer there wasn't a rich guy in the equation? Yes, of course, but that's often just not possible.
In the end, I genuinely want the world to be a better place but I don't really believe in extreme solutions. I appreciate your civilized answer despite different opinions. Peace!