296

Would you teach your kids how to pirate? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by aldalire@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

108 comments fedilink hide all child comments

My gf and I have had discussions about teaching morals to kids. In that vein, I asked myself, would I teach piracy to my kids? Yes, it’s technically illegal and carries inherent risks. But so does teenage sex carry the risks of teenage pregnancy, and so we have an obligation to children to teach them how to practice safe sex. So, is it necessary to teach them how to stay safe in the sea? How to install adblockers, how to detect fake download sites that give you computer aids? Show them how to use a VPN and choosing the right one (a true pirate must always choose a VPN with port forwarding capabilities, so you can still seed) I feel like this is all valuable info we all learned as pirates the hard way, and valuable information to pass on to our kids.

I definitely want my kids to know about libgen. Want a book you want to read about? Wanna learn about dinosaurs from a college level textbook for whatever reason? Just go to libgen, son!

And I attribute most of my computer literacy and education to piracy, trying to install cracks to various games, trying to make games work, and modding the fuck out of skyrim as a young teenager. That, and also jailbreaking android phones. All the interesting things i’ve ever done with computers was probably against some BS terms of service.

So, is piracy something you would actively teach your kids? Sit them down and teach them how to install a Fallout 3 FitGirl repack? Or is this something you’d want them to figure out themselves?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net 3 points 7 months ago

I'm not sure. I don't plan on having kids, so this is a purely theoretical question that I won't have to answer in practice, but I think I probably would, at least to some degree.

I had a pretty iconically millennial childhood when it comes to tech; I remember my mum being on the phone to the internet people and asked "he's offering me an unlimited packaged for [money] extra. Is that good, do we need that?", to which my brother and and I vigorously nodded. We were young enough we didn't know shit, but unlimited sounded good and we weren't paying the bills. My mum probably realised we didn't know what unlimited Vs metered internet meant in practice, and opted for unlimited as the safe option, because if she felt the need to ask her children for advice, she wouldn't be great at managing a metred connection. That's the context in which I grew up and is why I'm as techy as I am today.

I learned the hard way, and whilst I don't think that's necessarily the best way to learn, I don't know how one might teach people how to recognise which "download" button to press, and when a dodgy looking site is actually dodgy. It's like internet street smarts, but what that means has changed since I was a kid, and I don't necessarily know how I'd teach that beyond the basics, like installing adblockers and other common sense things.

[-] melpomenesclevage@lemm.ee 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

set them up with something disposable (or at lewst that you can reinstall the OS on every couple weeks) that runs on an architecture other than x86 to avoid viruses; pi is perfect for this.

[-] AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net 2 points 7 months ago

That's a really cool idea actually. I knew a guy who used to install viruses for fun on a separate machine that wasn't networked. I bet a more creative person than I could probably figure out a fun learning activity for kids using a "disposable" system

[-] melpomenesclevage@lemm.ee 1 points 7 months ago

sure. you create a parental control firewall, and tell them they're not allowed to see anything fun until they can get past it, and if they do, tipping off the programmeans youll look for countermeasures after a few days. here's some good leads on the right white papers for a temporary fix. good luck!