Is All Piracy Equal? Exploring Gray Areas: When Is It REALLY "Stealing" ??

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  • @anomonyous
    @anomonyous Місяць тому +2024

    The marker of our dystopia is not that the "do not sell my personal info" button is on by default.
    It's that it's there, in the first place.

  • @HawaiiWS6
    @HawaiiWS6 Місяць тому +2406

    If purchasing it isn't owning it, then piracy isn't theft.

    • @An_Attempt
      @An_Attempt Місяць тому +63

      It's infringement, it has never been theft.

    • @gondolagripes1674
      @gondolagripes1674 Місяць тому +88

      ​@@An_Attemptinfringement on what exactly?

    • @macethorns1168
      @macethorns1168 Місяць тому +128

      Piracy isn't any more thieving than revoking a digital license.

    • @davidanoble
      @davidanoble Місяць тому +55

      ​@@gondolagripes1674 Copyright. It's an infringement of the creator's right to copy the work. Theft only applies to materials and resources, like the physical disc.

    • @maidsandmuses
      @maidsandmuses Місяць тому +5

      @@TheSimArchitect Doesn't make it an acceptable practice of ignoring copyright though.

  • @nezu_cc
    @nezu_cc Місяць тому +515

    Another tier that's missing is "I pirate because I can't afford it due to the lack of regional pricing". This is often overlooked, but there are places in the world where paying 15$ for something is the equivalent of not having food for the next week.

    • @AileTheAlien
      @AileTheAlien Місяць тому +92

      👍When I went to Ukraine in high school, I learned this first-hand. Our crappy Canada-buck was weak enough to grumble when getting money changed to USD...But then we did the math and saw that just one of us "broke" Canadians could buy pizzas to feed our whole dozen students. (Half Ukrainian, half Canadian.) They took us to an open-air market near a small town, with tents and tables set up all over the place - every single music or game CD was pirated, because there was no way to pay for it legitimately unless you were wealthy.

    • @Maximilian1990
      @Maximilian1990 Місяць тому +12

      So don't pay for something if you can't afford it. I'd love to buy a new Porsche but I don't have the funds to do it without bankrupting myself. And I won't go to a dealership and steal one just because I'm too poor to buy it

    • @nezu_cc
      @nezu_cc Місяць тому +146

      @@Maximilian1990 "you wouldn't download a car" moment. Making a new car costs money, copying a file doesn't. Not saying piracy good, but the other side doesn't lose anything if you pirate, they just aren't gaining either.

    • @Maximilian1990
      @Maximilian1990 Місяць тому +10

      @@nezu_cc making and maintaining new software costs money too like wtf 😂 yes the other side loses the money they would have received if you had purchased your copy legally

    • @Lodinn
      @Lodinn Місяць тому +18

      @@nezu_cc Eh, it's far more complex than both of you would imply, and boils down to the role of state in a globalized world, late capitalism and all that jazz.
      In the Porsche example, it's more like you're making bread and trade it to locals, and they give you a bike in exchange, but if you lived across the street, they'd give you a Porsche instead. Possibly even if you're selling to the same people.
      So while companies generally have the discretion to do what they want with their products, ethics and morality of such could still be dubious sometimes, that is why anti-discrimination laws exist, for example. It is not a victimless crime, but it is also not hard to see why the poor and disadvantaged find justice in "robbing the rich" - as they see it.
      All in all, a hard issue to tackle. Is it governments that let people down? Are weak economies inherited? Is it up for the companies to pick up the slack, for people to be more isolationist and promote their local markets until they get competitive? How about something more controversial like big pharma? The list goes on.

  • @devononair
    @devononair Місяць тому +204

    22:49 I'm glad you mentioned this. I'm a musician who sells my music on CDs. I have had people tell me that they won't buy my CDs because record labels don't pay their artists well enough, and then when I tell them that I make the CDs myself and retain 100% of the profit, they don't believe me!

    • @Gnomezonbacon
      @Gnomezonbacon Місяць тому +28

      Did you remind them that CD burners have been a thing for the last 25 years?

    • @FineWine-v4.0
      @FineWine-v4.0 Місяць тому +4

      What kind of rejects did you encounter ?

    • @321CatboxWA
      @321CatboxWA Місяць тому +2

      I don't believe it.

    • @jonathanberry1111
      @jonathanberry1111 Місяць тому +18

      Yeah, they are just using it as an excuse. They should just be honest and say "I don't like your music enough / I'm cheap or poor or just an a-hole." but I guess none of those options are the best either as none of those have social grace.

    • @jonathanberry1111
      @jonathanberry1111 Місяць тому

      Oh, and if you like it, and have plenty of money and are cheap it doesn't necessarily mean you are an a-hole. Someone who is wealthy but has a psychological scarcity mindset will perhaps be too cheap to part with money, there are Billionaires like this! They will penny pinch and do all manner of stupid things to save a buck. That is then a psychological condition. They might also be an a-hole but they don't have to be, more of a "head case". there are some stories of Bill Gates that suggest he's been a penny pincher.

  • @korithex
    @korithex Місяць тому +1802

    if there’s a one time purchase available, I buy it. If it’s subscription only, I pirate it. Simple as.

    • @TheTransporter007
      @TheTransporter007 Місяць тому +154

      Sony (PSN) has "pulled back" one time purchases more than once in the past.

    • @Telhias
      @Telhias Місяць тому +68

      Subscription only is much harder to pirate. That is actually part of the reason for the popularity of the live service products and rolling release delivery systems. If the product is continuously changing or if the product requires unavailable to the customer server resources to work, then pirating said product is a much more involved process. It may require you to go as far as reverse engineering a large part of it.

    • @Deceit-hx7ey
      @Deceit-hx7ey Місяць тому +6

      @@TheTransporter007 i believe that was with some select movies, at least recently.

    • @robertide5182
      @robertide5182 Місяць тому +8

      That’s stealing. Simple as.

    • @paulburt1254
      @paulburt1254 Місяць тому +26

      DVDs for the win!

  • @bobowon5450
    @bobowon5450 Місяць тому +1633

    piracy always seems to result in a better product. This is a bad strategy for content providers. It would be like If buying food from a market resulted in the cashier spitting in it, but if you stole the food there would be no spit. And then when you bring this up morons on the internet say "yeah but the markets terms of service say its ok to spit in your food" screw that terms of service.

    • @rossmanngroup
      @rossmanngroup  Місяць тому +608

      This is a big part of the problem for me. I've always been willing to pay full price for the goods & services I consume. But, it's hard to swallow(no pun intended & pause) that after paying, I get a shittier good or service than I would've received without paying.
      *The paid experience:*
      As a result of BS restrictions that are not made obvious on the purchase page, I have to:
      1) Buy a new monitor
      2) Rebuild my entire computer so it uses a different processor - NOT because my current processor can't decode 4k60 at that codec/bitrate 100x much less realtime, but because of copy protection nonsense
      3) Buy a license for, and install, a closed source operating system
      4) Change my web browser
      5) Still mess around with it when it does not work out of the box after reading docs/help files, as if I am trying to install gentoo from a stage 1 tarball rather than enjoy entertainment that I _bought and paid for_
      6) I want to watch w/ girlfriend two weeks later because I thought it was a good show
      7) It's no longer available because of a licensing dispute...
      *The high seas experience:*
      1) I search an index
      2) I click
      3) I download my file
      4) It just plays when I double click it, on my EXISTING HARDWARE. NO RESTRICTIONS - the only limit is my GPU, CPU, or soundcard's capabilities to reproduce & playback the media that I've obtained.
      5) Media is often distributed in better quality as a result of using a better codec/MUCH higher bitrate than _"legitimate"_ purchase - you can download a 50gb/100gb raw bluray, or you can stream a 3 mbps-5 mbps piece of pixelated garbage...
      5) It's mine, forever. It will work today. It will work tomorrow. It will work until the end of time.
      I would pay $0 for the first experience, I would pay 2x their asking retail price for the second experience. When the second experience is free, how can you blame anyone for running for it?
      This honestly goes back to the dating video I did last week ua-cam.com/video/0mg5MiO02vU/v-deo.html - I WANT to pay. I just don't want to feel _stupid_ for paying. Once you make me feel like a chump for paying, I will not pay you, date you, or consume your content - ever again.

    • @MidlifeRenaissanceMan
      @MidlifeRenaissanceMan Місяць тому +136

      @@rossmanngroup Louis.
      I have the acronym for you to use
      I would call this a:
      Reversible
      Action
      Purchase
      Experience
      Or
      Revoked
      Acquisition
      Purchase
      Experience
      Or maybe
      Reneged
      Agreement
      Purchase
      Experience
      I’m not a marketer, so I shall defer to others more experienced, but it does have a ring to it.
      Carry on

    • @MidlifeRenaissanceMan
      @MidlifeRenaissanceMan Місяць тому +115

      A
      Retroactively
      Amended
      Purchase
      Experience
      That’s it

    • @MidlifeRenaissanceMan
      @MidlifeRenaissanceMan Місяць тому +20

      Wow
      My comments are getting eaten

    • @reddobr
      @reddobr Місяць тому +1

      Seriously. I thought I'd watch Invincible since I happened to get Amazon Prime and the thing looked 480p or worse. Maybe it doesn't like Firefox?
      Meanwhile the pirated one I can watch offline at full quality and even pass it through an upscaler to improve the quality further than the source.

  • @miezoo
    @miezoo Місяць тому +257

    "If buying isn't owning pirating isn't stealing." I love this quote or something similar.

    • @Maximilian1990
      @Maximilian1990 Місяць тому +3

      Two things wrong with that one: you are confused about what you're buying and pirating is literally stealing

    • @ballin_wallhack
      @ballin_wallhack Місяць тому +16

      @@Maximilian1990 pirating is not stealing its just braking copyright law stealing is takin sum like an car but pirating is taking ur friends homework and coping it 1 to 1 and using it ur self

    • @Jetiix
      @Jetiix Місяць тому +12

      @@Maximilian1990 no such thing as stealing content. you can steal money and things and take them away, downloading s1e4 of friends is not stealing.

    • @Maximilian1990
      @Maximilian1990 Місяць тому +1

      @@ballin_wallhack Gaining illegal access to a service is literally theft, go look it up.

    • @Maximilian1990
      @Maximilian1990 Місяць тому +1

      @@Jetiix see above

  • @cmykrgb1469
    @cmykrgb1469 Місяць тому +77

    On a personal note, piracy can allow a "try before you buy" option. I did the same with many video games, the Mass Effect trilogy and Spec Ops: The Line most memorably, and I wholeheartedly approve of people purchasing a product after they recognized the value.

    • @AFistfulOf4K
      @AFistfulOf4K Місяць тому

      People say this but never actually buy things, then complain when the sequel either doesn't get made, gets Denuvo'd, or gets consolified to hell so it can actually turn a profit on platforms without piracy... but that's "not my problem", right?

    • @planefan082
      @planefan082 Місяць тому +20

      ​@@AFistfulOf4KI don't know anyone who's done this who wasn't also stuck in actual poverty. I really don't get why so many assume that everyone is immoral and greedy. There aren't that many people (by proportion) without the empathy gene.

    • @bbbbbbb51
      @bbbbbbb51 Місяць тому

      ​@@AFistfulOf4Knah. I try before I buy and actually buy things. Game demos aren't commonplace on PC & I'm not going to buy a game if I have no idea how it'll run on my system, how buggy it is, or if I'll actually enjoy it. If more games had demos on steam, I'd be far less incentivized to try before I buy via piracy.
      Also, this doesn't make sequels get Denuvo'd. People buying products with Denuvo is what continues it's existence. I remember reading an article about some game that recently had it's Denuvo removed, and when compared to older tests of the game it had 23% better 1% lows (stutters) with it disabled. Personally, I refuse to buy any game with tons of DRM protection or Denuvo. I'm far from the only person who does this, which shows that Denuvo's inclusion actually ends up avoiding some sales.

    • @the_dark_jumper2211
      @the_dark_jumper2211 Місяць тому +7

      @@AFistfulOf4K Speak for yourself. I spent at least 860$ on "pirated" Steam games, nevermind getting hooked on a developer/game series and buying their entire catalogue after pirating a single game.

    • @pogtuber5146
      @pogtuber5146 Місяць тому +6

      @@AFistfulOf4K Can confirm that I've also done this, re-buying games I pirated after landing a good job and being able to get back into gaming.

  • @judgywudgy
    @judgywudgy Місяць тому +429

    I had a professor require the purchase of a $300 TEMPORARY ACCESS to an online textbook which also gave the professor royalties. I was morally obligated to pirate that book, but now they're tying busywork to the online software and you cannot pass unless you pay up

    • @lance_374
      @lance_374 Місяць тому +171

      That should be illegal. At my college in the states, they always tell us to get the cheapest option, maybe an older used edition, or just pirate the book. They never have us use the online busywork.

    • @CatgirlExplise6039
      @CatgirlExplise6039 Місяць тому +71

      @@lance_374 This type of shit is what ruins my dreams, I´ve always wanted to go into neurology and prosthetics, but I couldn't imagine some of the bullshit that comes along with the corporations in that area

    • @JamesTDG
      @JamesTDG Місяць тому +69

      Okay, so hear me out, most colleges have law students, meet with them and the professor(s) and discuss potential legal ramifications. Some of em like solving legal puzzles!

    • @3nertia
      @3nertia Місяць тому +7

      Welcome to capitalism!

    • @Morncreek
      @Morncreek Місяць тому +30

      ​@@lance_374 I wish that was the case in my State. A decade ago, even the community colleges had 'teachers' who required students buy learning materials that were really just license keys for some stuff online. Community. Colleges. How the publishers must have laughed as they cashed the money of all those *literally poor* students, and how apathetic those so-called professors must have been to their students' well-being.

  • @spyross2391
    @spyross2391 Місяць тому +826

    Even the word "piracy" is fake.
    They had to name the act of making a copy of something to sound really bad.

    • @zwerko
      @zwerko Місяць тому +55

      Well, TBH it does have roots from off-shore platforms and ships that were playing music on the radio waves without obtaining a permission from the owners. People on 'ships' stealing other people's stuff are, technically, pirates and the name stuck...

    • @TheUnknownCatWarrior
      @TheUnknownCatWarrior Місяць тому +1

      Copyright was made to squeeze every penny out of content, not protect creators. The worst implementation of copyright is Roblox. They will not let people manually delete images of spongebob they uploaded when they were 12 yo and their support team is a dumpster fire.

    • @oniryuuko
      @oniryuuko Місяць тому +38

      @@zwerko Especially because they were literally called 'Pirate radio stations'.

    • @JH-pt6ih
      @JH-pt6ih Місяць тому

      Yeah - it was an intentional ploy to control the narrative and people bought it.

    • @samtinkle9076
      @samtinkle9076 Місяць тому +67

      The phrase *F I L E S H A R I N G* sounds like a good or just neutral thing, even when you say it.

  • @exodus0529
    @exodus0529 Місяць тому +50

    I recently bought a vinyl for collecting sake, and the company sent me a zip with all the music I bought as mp3s. I really wish more companies would take that route.
    It was so nice being able to listen to it right away and have the files without having to find them online, sort and organize them and such

    • @shinobuoshino5066
      @shinobuoshino5066 Місяць тому +5

      mp3s in 2024 is an insult

    • @exodus0529
      @exodus0529 Місяць тому

      @@shinobuoshino5066 they also had FLAC and WAV

    • @AliciaGuitar
      @AliciaGuitar Місяць тому +1

      Several BandCamp bands do this. I approve!

    • @AliciaGuitar
      @AliciaGuitar Місяць тому +5

      ​@@shinobuoshino5066 why? I have a massive collection of music, most is mp3/320kps. It isnt worth the minimal sound difference to need exhorbant amount of drive space to store it all. What do you suggest? Which format sound noticably better without making each file ridiculously large?

    • @flamestoyershadowkill6400
      @flamestoyershadowkill6400 Місяць тому

      @@shinobuoshino5066have the option for .wav, flac, or alac?

  • @----.__
    @----.__ Місяць тому +50

    _"You wouldn't steal a car"_
    That ad used to make me laugh. I've been sailing the high seas since the C64 days, that will never change. If I genuinely enjoy something then I go and buy the real deal. Most of the time I don't make it beyond 20 minutes in to a movie, or 30 minutes in to a game etc. Without sailing I'd have bought things I ultimately didn't want more times than beggars belief. In a world where "try before you buy" is decreasing, it's the only viable vector for ensuring you're purchasing what you actually want.

    • @jonathanberry1111
      @jonathanberry1111 Місяць тому +4

      Started with the C64 also. The idea that by our existing we owe them our money is problematic. When you "consume" media, games etc there is nothing actually consumed and there is no loss except their presumption they have right to our money. now that doesn't mean that it's cool to never support what you love if you have money and want more of it then maybe you should pay if there isn't a compelling greater need. But the reality is people only have so much money and depriving someone of such content is not beneficial to anyone. What is far worse than watching or playing something you didn't pay for??? A bad review or opinion that discourages sales! Or for that matter creating a competing and superior product or use for people's time so they don't buy product X. If you wouldn't have bought it, or if you would have bought it anyway and regretted it deeply then they shouldn't have your money anyway and that you may have got some entertainment for free is more of a "thought crime".

    • @mallninja9805
      @mallninja9805 Місяць тому +3

      @@jonathanberry1111 "Support what you love" is also something of a misnomer, as the vast majority of the money being pumped in your industry of choice is being funneled to people who had little / nothing to do with the production of "what you love"

    • @AnarchistMetalhead
      @AnarchistMetalhead Місяць тому +1

      if i had the machinery to make drivetrain, suspension, frame, body and whatever else, i would download a car
      maybe i"d even modify it a bit, can never have too long legroom and cargo area

    • @Xander1Sheridan
      @Xander1Sheridan Місяць тому

      I am really surprised their isn't a gaming company that has succeeded with some sort of monthly subscription to borrow games. Honestly Amazon kindle is so wonderful for books, I read so many books and have found authors that are amazing that I would never have found without it. Streaming for music is the same thing, but there really isn't anything like that for games.

    • @ShadowbannedAccount
      @ShadowbannedAccount 20 днів тому +1

      "You wouldn't download a car"
      If I could, I would.

  • @mightylink65
    @mightylink65 Місяць тому +544

    If you pay full price for something you should have access to it, end of story. If companies try to take your purchased product away from you then they're the pirates... steal it back.

    • @dutchdykefinger
      @dutchdykefinger Місяць тому +26

      yeah, it's quite simple, 1 transaction and change of ownership of 2 goods, i pay money, you give me product i get to keep
      end of fuckign story

    • @picblick
      @picblick Місяць тому +11

      Interesting thought. So downloading the media would then be privateering instead of piracy, right?
      Edit: sorry for spamming the same message multiple times, I received an error while posting it.

    • @picblick
      @picblick Місяць тому +1

      Interesting thought. So downloading the media would then be privateering instead of piracy, right?

    • @user-yk1cw8im4h
      @user-yk1cw8im4h Місяць тому

      @@dutchdykefingernetflix is a rental service, you don’t get to keep stuff just like rental stores you don’t own anything.

    • @danieltoth9742
      @danieltoth9742 Місяць тому +30

      They're *worse* than pirates actually: If you pirate it, the company isn't losing access to anything, but when they take a purchased copy away from you, _you are._ That is a characteristic of _literal theft._

  • @kitethetwinblade
    @kitethetwinblade Місяць тому +375

    @Louis -Years ago, Weird Al Yankovic was an advocate for piracy - he wrote a song lampooning the RIAA and MPAA ("Don't Download This Song"), he bought back the rights to all his music, and he put his ENTIRE DISCOGRAPHY up for FREE DOWNLOAD on his website - I don't know if it's still there, but he did it, and he KNEW it would get seeded around.
    The man is a legend of a creative, and I am glad to have given him my money for many years.

    • @volvo09
      @volvo09 Місяць тому +40

      Yeah, stuff like that spreads the word, more people listening to the music, etc...
      So many artists got big because of MP3's when Napster was big. I never would have bought most of the 00 era Eminem albums if it wasn't for Napster.

    • @3OBTPA
      @3OBTPA Місяць тому +22

      When the artist will do things like that, and I find I like their their product. Most of the time I will go ahead and buy a physical copy. Now if it's something I don't care about. Then I won't bother. But if it is something I like I feel I should support that so they continue to make more of what I like

    • @SuperSmashDolls
      @SuperSmashDolls Місяць тому

      When you pirate media, the publisher loses a sale, but the artist can still make something new and get a sale out of you tomorrow. Publishers have to pay an artist to do that. As proof, I offer a comparsion between the Napster controversy and the AI Art controversy. Artists are pissed off about their images being used to train AI systems, despite those images otherwise being available for free. But the publishers that were pissed off about Napster, KaZaA, Gnutella, and BitTorrent are perfectly fine with brazen copyright infringement at scale, *so long as* the end result is a magic box that lets them fire all artists and replace them with AI sludge. It's like a dementedly inverted version of the "disintermediation" argument being thrown around by Negativland and friends.
      That being said, Weird Al actually *did* have a bone to pick with pirates: namely that they took literally any funny song and put Weird Al's name on it. It's not the usual complaint from major label artists but it's important to note how many people were misattributing songs to Weird Al for basically no reason.

    • @DavidPereiraLima123
      @DavidPereiraLima123 Місяць тому +6

      Indeed a legend.

    • @Whalerguy
      @Whalerguy Місяць тому +5

      Tech n9ne did a similar around Napster era and just let it out for free. Not only a class act, proof someone believes in their product.

  • @walterxplinge3867
    @walterxplinge3867 Місяць тому +37

    I remember a few years ago a TV interview on the subject of piracy. One of the people interviewed said (as I recall) "theft involves depriving the owner of an item access to that item. Piracy is taking a copy of the item, therefore not depriving the owner of the item access, and as such, is not theft".

    • @Maximilian1990
      @Maximilian1990 Місяць тому +3

      Theft also involves depriving the owner of an intellectual property of his rights to monetize access to that property.

    • @mengeletalon8151
      @mengeletalon8151 Місяць тому

      no@@Maximilian1990 that would called "infringement" not theft

    • @simonanderson1433
      @simonanderson1433 Місяць тому

      So if someone provides a service to you and you don't pay them for it, you haven't, in effect, stolen from them? C'mon..self serving rubbish

    • @walterxplinge3867
      @walterxplinge3867 Місяць тому

      Not my opinion, I'm just reporting how some people try to justify piracy.

    • @mirziyodm
      @mirziyodm Місяць тому +2

      @@simonanderson1433
      Btw, how many times do you pay your barber for ONE haircut?

  • @apocalypseap
    @apocalypseap Місяць тому +39

    It should be considered fraud if they say it's a purchase. Purchasing is ownership. This needs to be established in court so we can finally have companies not be able to screw us over individually.
    Also, unrelated but not unrelated, nobody should ever be able to have their right to sue someone taken away from them in any kind of contract or EULA. If someone has a valid reason to sue, that should never be able to be taken away from them.

    • @Maximilian1990
      @Maximilian1990 Місяць тому +1

      You get what you paid for, which is access to software under TOS set by the seller.

    • @Nifylau
      @Nifylau Місяць тому +2

      @@Maximilian1990it is very misleading to state it as a purchase. These things are literally HIDDEN in the TOS.

    • @Maximilian1990
      @Maximilian1990 Місяць тому

      @@Nifylau but you are literally purchasing... a license to use something

    • @Nifylau
      @Nifylau Місяць тому +1

      @@Maximilian1990 *renting

    • @Maximilian1990
      @Maximilian1990 Місяць тому

      @@Nifylau it's only renting if you break the tos 🤷‍♂️

  • @godofsquirrels494
    @godofsquirrels494 Місяць тому +348

    A tier to add in between 1 and 2. “I bought a physical medium and it has degraded. I can buy it from a third party at an inflated price. I pirated a copy”

    • @tgheretford
      @tgheretford Місяць тому +73

      a.k.a. every retro gamer who wants to play games on what is increasingly most platforms nowadays. The prices of an increasing number of Sega Saturn games are well beyond the reach of those who want to play the games because the collectors market have shrunk supply at the same time people who likely bought a PlayStation in the 90s and only just seen the Saturn via UA-cam and want to sample its library of games increase demand. Plus, the publishers don't want to re-release the games.

    • @Henk717
      @Henk717 Місяць тому +47

      I go one step further and would do that outright, if my money doesn't go to the creator of the content, why would I pay for it?

    • @mikes-wv3em
      @mikes-wv3em Місяць тому +1

      @@tgheretfordive bought a few of the licensced ones, if the price is right and the software works.

    • @Allustar
      @Allustar Місяць тому +13

      If you possess a physical copy, I don’t think it’s necessarily illegal to crack and emulate a copy of it. It’s sharing the copy that’s illegal.

    • @Natej3ds
      @Natej3ds Місяць тому +3

      *Wildly inflated price

  • @anthonyelder3742
    @anthonyelder3742 Місяць тому +170

    The word PURCHASE needs replaced with LEASE, not hidden in some agreement that details how “purchase” more or less means “lease.”

    • @TheScrootch
      @TheScrootch Місяць тому +9

      Yeah, I think it's scummy to hide these things in pages and pages of text

    • @purpleprinc3
      @purpleprinc3 Місяць тому +1

      An Eternal Higher Purchase! 😭

    • @hubertnnn
      @hubertnnn Місяць тому +8

      Pretty much as long as they use the word "purchase" you are either purchasing (and have owning rights to the product)
      or are a victim of false advertisement (and have right to full refund of that product).
      If they wont refund it, then you own it.

    • @justsomeguy5103
      @justsomeguy5103 Місяць тому +3

      Lease isn't right either. If you lease a car, you paid for the right to use it for (typically) 3 years. At no point has the leasing period been implied to be indefinite, and there is no legal way for them to take the car back before the agreed period has passed (assuming you uphold your end of the deal and keep up with payments).

    • @meanpillscasper
      @meanpillscasper Місяць тому +1

      I was thinking also about “ACCESS” (I am ESL and I have no idea was lease means)

  • @John.Oliver
    @John.Oliver Місяць тому +15

    I would like to add "The movie/media I wished to purchased is not available in physical form and only available through a subscription service".
    My wife and I have a very large DVD collection. The pleasure of looking through the collection to find a movie to watch is almost as enjoyable as the movie sometimes. Recently, we wished to purchase the DVD for the Disney movie Elementals. What we found was at the time, this movie was not available in Australia in physical form and only available through a subscription service to Disney+. I did find a copy that I could ship from the US but that was $50 plus shipping.
    So for the first time in over 10 years, I downloaded a movie to add to our collection. If the movie was available in physical form

    • @DarkSwordsman
      @DarkSwordsman Місяць тому

      Yeah, I was surprised this wasn't touched on. A significant portion of media these days never exists in physical form and is only available via subscription or "purchase" through a platform that can revoke its rights at any time.

    • @Pedro-zh6kk
      @Pedro-zh6kk 27 днів тому

      I really believe that physical media should be more of a niche/collectors option in order to reduce e-waste, but at the other hand, if physical media is dying, I think services like netflix, disney+, etc, should provide the option of downloading a LOCAL copy in a mainstream format like mp4, not some encrypted bullshit that still depends on the app to work

    • @DarkSwordsman
      @DarkSwordsman 27 днів тому

      @@Pedro-zh6kk The physical copy is basically a "license". Ideally, we should be able to purchase official licenses that are stored in a reliable database to confirm that we own that copy. Then we should be allowed to download it in any medium, whether it be DDL from a site, or torrenting through an official private tracker.

    • @John.Oliver
      @John.Oliver 27 днів тому

      ​@@Pedro-zh6kk At least with a DVD or any other physical media no company can take that away from me.

  • @arthas4870
    @arthas4870 Місяць тому +351

    I think you forgot a key level:
    "I'm too poor to purchase media just for my pleasure, so I'll pirate it with the understanding that if it brings me value, I'll go back and purchase it as soon as I'm able."

    • @DamianTheFirst
      @DamianTheFirst Місяць тому +62

      sound like my life story. Now I prefer to buy games. I've rebuilt my childhood collection mostly via Steam.
      Shame that most of the stuff is now available only in digital form. Physical media from good-old-times is unobtainable

    • @rexsceleratorum1632
      @rexsceleratorum1632 Місяць тому +43

      I've always sailed the high seas from a third world country where buying the hardware to play the content is hard enough to justify.

    • @TrantaLocked
      @TrantaLocked Місяць тому +29

      And to demo games. No way I was gonna outright buy Cyberpunk without knowing if I liked it. I knew I'd like it after playing it for 10 hours and then bought it at full price, no further questions. We need more game demos.

    • @Maximilian1990
      @Maximilian1990 Місяць тому +2

      Not having the money to buy something doesn't justify you stealing it

    • @Alex-dr6or
      @Alex-dr6or Місяць тому +29

      ​@@Maximilian1990nobody is talking about taking stuff away from people (stealing)

  • @aetheralmeowstic2392
    @aetheralmeowstic2392 Місяць тому +353

    If I've said it once, I've said it a quintillion times: if you distribute digital content in exchange for money in any way or in any capacity, if you want to or have to take it away for any reason, you should legally be required to refund the full purchase price + 15%, turning all revocation of digital goods into a legally mandated net loss

    • @c99kfm
      @c99kfm Місяць тому +114

      Gotta add inflation and interest to that, 'cause you can be damn sure they would.

    • @JamesTDG
      @JamesTDG Місяць тому +57

      Yes please! Also, revoking access to major features should also count. Spore and Darkspore on Steam is neutered because EA cut off access to the creature servers. It can be EASILY argued that the game has become unplayable now.

    • @Roxor128
      @Roxor128 Місяць тому +48

      @@JamesTDG If your customers rely on your running servers, you should be required to either keep them running forever, or give your customers the source code to their software and copies of all data needed to keep them running. ESPECIALLY encryption keys!

    • @rossmanngroup
      @rossmanngroup  Місяць тому +74

      Add inflation and interest.

    • @JamesTDG
      @JamesTDG Місяць тому

      @@Roxor128 Agreed. When they cut support for Spore on Steam, I actually stopped saving up for it, cause that was the only platform I was gonna own it legitimately.

  • @spidalack
    @spidalack Місяць тому +413

    I had a friend who worked for a well known game company. I had to explain to him that no, you don't get payed a second time when someone buys something used. He was convinced buying second hand games was theft. I had to explain to him that if I buy something, it is mine. Until I used cars as an example, he could not understand the principle and once he did, he still tried to convince me I was wrong.

    • @athrunmoza8996
      @athrunmoza8996 Місяць тому +99

      Thanks god your friend is not a CEO, else he gonna make anti consumer worse 😂

    • @muckdriver
      @muckdriver Місяць тому +57

      Should have told em to just have their cellphones, book, dvds, etc. pile up and never sell em even the rare stuff.

    • @darksu6947
      @darksu6947 Місяць тому +78

      Your friend isn't intelligent enough to be a friend. Being friends with them will cost you in the end.

    • @sabersz
      @sabersz Місяць тому +68

      'had'
      Key word here people

    • @Stryqwills
      @Stryqwills Місяць тому +23

      He probably worked in marketing.

  • @vianneyb.8776
    @vianneyb.8776 Місяць тому +16

    The Touhou Project franchise gathered a Western fanbase pretty much only thanks to piracy.
    The creator of the franchise is an indie and self-publishes in Japan. The only way to even get a game legally was for a reseller to have one of the limited physical copies in stock, and even then you wouldn't have any translation (all fan made). And if you wanted to play the first five games, you need an emulator because they weren't even on Windows.
    The situation has changed in recent years, because the creator has added more and more of his games on Steam and has understandably been more protective of his games, asking a website dedicated to sharing copies of the games to close.
    Still, we owe the fan community for the games even being a thing outside of Japan.

    • @user-ie1hc9ig1n
      @user-ie1hc9ig1n Місяць тому +1

      I think a distinction should be made between piracy of products made by individuals (and self-published companies with only one individual in it), and piracy of products sold by companies exceeding a certain number of employees or a certain amount of revenue.

    • @vianneyb.8776
      @vianneyb.8776 Місяць тому +1

      @@user-ie1hc9ig1n Could you develop? Do you mean maybe that self-published companies are impacted more than big players in the industry?
      If that was what you meant, that's fair. However, in the case I was describing, it was more about game preservation and accessibility. The creator was limited in his ability to produce enough copies and sell them outisde of Japan. Buying from a reseller meant that you would pay more without any money going to the creator, and the stocks would still be limited, especially for older games. And as I said, the fairly recent developments of the games now being available much more easily and legally through Steam have changed the situation.

  • @lamardoss
    @lamardoss Місяць тому +30

    You have helped me so many times over the years and I sincerely appreciate it. Thank you.

    • @StephSancia
      @StephSancia 19 днів тому

      reality ~ If we say this channel has helped for 10 years your $20 would be 5 cents a day give or take plus the pound off flesh from UA-cam/ Google and the Bank and I quite expect flak but I don't care cos if I had donated all the money I've been ripped off with music software companies x 3 AFTER the BEST years for software 2009 to 2014 I could have donated $1,500 (reasons of plain old going AWOL from planet earth, selling their business on to a 3rd party and just plain old stating it won't work on the next upgrade of windows cos they want to make more money by selling you the same product with a new number and different paint job) BUT it would probably be more $$ beneficial to watch ad revenue commercials.

  • @thebigskip-e
    @thebigskip-e Місяць тому +287

    The top of my hierarchy is this: Any company engaging in anti-customer actions is fair game for anti-company actions.

    • @reynoldskynaston9529
      @reynoldskynaston9529 Місяць тому +11

      That’s every company so just be honest and say you want to pirate.

    • @Maximilian1990
      @Maximilian1990 Місяць тому

      Well anti-company actions usually are illegal so do what you must 😂

    • @hubertnnn
      @hubertnnn Місяць тому

      @@reynoldskynaston9529Not every company.
      There are tons of companies that side with consumers, because it is worth it for them.
      For example Brother is one of these for printers, many game developers are not cashgrabs.
      You can find honest people pretty much in every industry, the issue is that they are the minority.

    • @justsomeguy5103
      @justsomeguy5103 Місяць тому +19

      @@FaQUE-hg5tlPiracy of a product is a sign that the product is good, but the price is wrong or the company has made itself worthy of your boycott. Nintendo is a great example.

    • @DragonOfTheMortalKombat
      @DragonOfTheMortalKombat Місяць тому

      ​@@justsomeguy5103 I can think of an example or two, red dead 2 is a great game, but in order play it you'll have to create a Rockstar account even if you bought it from steam. RGSC launcher is very bad on pc, it is slow, offline mode is unreliable and it requires me to solve 10 captchas to log in. This is pathetic. If I pirate, I don't get any of these problems. Gaben Newell (praise lord gabe) has said that piracy isn't a money problem,it's a service problem.

  • @tgheretford
    @tgheretford Місяць тому +154

    The retro gaming tier of the hierarchy - I want to play a retro video game and are happy to pay a fair price to compensate the creators but the publisher no longer sells it, complains about not getting a cent from a second hand sale, it is out of the reach of virtually everyone because of the collectors market inflating prices and the publisher has no intention of re-releasing the game, it is seen as "abandonware" and you find a pirate copy.

    • @gizmoenterprises3467
      @gizmoenterprises3467 Місяць тому +15

      abandonware has led to a re-release or remastering of many vintage games. Some of note are The Zoombinis, Freddy the Fish, Putt Putt, and many others.
      People loved the games, and were finding ways to play it on a modern processor. The game studios then either resurrected the game, or bought rights from whomever they ended up with, to be able to provide the game to a whole new generation.

    • @Allustar
      @Allustar Місяць тому +32

      @@gizmoenterprises3467Games getting remade or remastered isn’t always a good thing though. Sometimes, they make a game worse or stray away from the original vision of the game.

    • @Mirddes
      @Mirddes Місяць тому

      @@gizmoenterprises3467a great way to find out which retro games should be made accessible on modern hardware probably comes down to which ones get the most pirate downloads relative to their contemporary sales.

    • @Mirddes
      @Mirddes Місяць тому +9

      @@Allustarsometimes they include the original alongside the remake for the best of both worlds.

    • @CnCDune
      @CnCDune Місяць тому +4

      This is essentially the Dune games made by Cryo and Westwood in the 1990s and 2001 as well as High Moon's Cybertron - and who knows how many others...

  • @mitooro
    @mitooro Місяць тому +14

    In India, a lot of US IT companies setup offices to get access to cheap labor since the cost of living is lower here. Based on the cost of living, they lower the paycheck.
    But when it comes to selling their products, US companies basically charge us same as US folks knowing full well that we don't earn near as much as them. Or in some bizarre cases like Apple, they actually charge more than US.
    What do you think, is it morally ok to pirate in these cases?

    • @Brahvim
      @Brahvim Місяць тому

      *NOT JUST!* However, regional pricing is certainly important to have. Gabe Newell's statement about having a good service is important here.
      Also, I don't think big corporations actually do this _that_ much.
      ...Me? I'm Indian.

    • @Xander1Sheridan
      @Xander1Sheridan Місяць тому

      these companies are delusional and evil. They have bribed the US government to make insane trade deals to guarantee their ip and copyright. It's bonkers. pirate all of it, boycott said stores, and maybe more.

    • @PurushNahiMahaPurush
      @PurushNahiMahaPurush Місяць тому +3

      I can for a fact say that there would no video game culture in India without piracy. I grew up playing pirated Mario and Contra on cheap NES knockoffs from China. Like many people of my era, this was my childhood and introduction to gaming. If my dad had to actually buy a NES (which wasn’t even available on sale in India at that time) and pay 60$ in 1990s for a single game, there is no way I’d be into video games today. This is a repeating story for most people in India that grew up on a pirated NES/PS1/PS2/PSP.
      Same goes for Windows. A lot of people use pirated copies of Windows to learn how to use computers and use pirated software like MS Office or some AutoCAD to develop skills necessary for a modern world. Simply because these products are unaffordable for 99% of the population due lack of any regional pricing.

    • @mitooro
      @mitooro Місяць тому +1

      @@PurushNahiMahaPurushStole my words man... I started gaming too on bootleg NES consoles in 2008-09.

    • @fanana6193
      @fanana6193 Місяць тому

      I live in the US, so I don't have experience with this, but I think it's really just up to you. Pay for what you want and pirate what you aren't able to pay for.

  • @Mikemk_
    @Mikemk_ Місяць тому +4

    Piracy is not only ok but mandatory to preserve the existence of media. The corporations have shown that they'd rather their IPs be destroyed.

  • @redraiderrider3289
    @redraiderrider3289 Місяць тому +222

    These corporations are gonna learn one way or another. If buying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing. Say the words. Believe in them.

    • @dakazze
      @dakazze Місяць тому +3

      Sorry mate but I am afraid that won't happen. When I was 14 and wanted to use the internet I had to learn English and understand how to work on computers and operating systems. Ofc I knew how to get digital content... Youth nowadays know how to work social media, a touchscreen and that's it. Piracy gets hidden on search engines and only a tiny minority, that does not make a difference will remain being able to pirate....

    • @ToyKeeper
      @ToyKeeper Місяць тому

      The corporations aren't gonna learn though. That's not how the market works. To make them change, we have to force them to do it by making their bad business practices illegal.

    • @Maximilian1990
      @Maximilian1990 Місяць тому +4

      LOL they sure will little buddy, they sure will

    • @hubertnnn
      @hubertnnn Місяць тому +6

      @@dakazzeThe "learn" is not about piracy.
      Its about the moment major courts and legislators (like US or EU) will finally do something about it.
      The moment they will be legally forced to refund 10 years of sales for their BS, they will learn (or go bankrupt which is also good).

    • @mushyroom9569
      @mushyroom9569 Місяць тому +5

      I don’t believe in them. Piracy simply isn’t stealing.

  • @foxriver9156
    @foxriver9156 Місяць тому +173

    If purchasing a digital product doesn’t mean I control it, then copying a digital product and storing locally is my only recourse

    • @Maximilian1990
      @Maximilian1990 Місяць тому

      You control it within the TOS you literally agreed to on purchase.

    • @GG-ou7it
      @GG-ou7it Місяць тому +7

      @@Maximilian1990didnt agree to TOS if i pirate it first 😂

    • @Maximilian1990
      @Maximilian1990 Місяць тому

      @@GG-ou7it the TOS applies the moment you start using a service, legally or illegally 😉

    • @wyldwiisel9126
      @wyldwiisel9126 Місяць тому

      Tos literally change every couple of months​@@Maximilian1990

    • @DarkSwordsman
      @DarkSwordsman Місяць тому +4

      @@Maximilian1990Who are you? Why are you shilling so hard for corporations?

  • @NathanaelPotoski
    @NathanaelPotoski Місяць тому +4

    I'm going to be honest, I've always skirted the edge of the piracy debate, and I felt that if it is at all possible, just pay for your stuff. And while I still do not condone piracy, I can understand why some people turn to it. It makes sense in my head. And I don't blame anyone who works with the first almost half of your list. Having said that, your last 2 or 3 videos here are what have helped me make a very important decision for my future. I was contemplating getting a samsung book 4 ultra, but you have convinced me that a Framework laptop would be the more ethical choice, as I can repair and replace any part of it myself, which means I have true ownership of my product. Thank you, sir.

  • @tehspamgozehere
    @tehspamgozehere Місяць тому +4

    A friend of mine has kept trying to get me to watch your stuff for years now. Right to repair and similar being one of my passionate points also. I keep deferring due to poor 'net link. I now have a good net link, so my excuse shifted to 'eh, soon'. Here's the first vid of yours I'm watching. I think I'm now hooked. Good to see someone applying common sense to modern retail practices.

  • @twilightguardian
    @twilightguardian Місяць тому +51

    Piracy and archiving resulted in a niche children's show being seen by its owners as still having an audience and now with the archivists' help is now being streamed on Peacock. The show is called Princess Gwenevere (Starla in UK) and the Jewel Riders, for anyone curious.

  • @RyanMartinez
    @RyanMartinez Місяць тому +56

    I have a Cannonball Run policy. If the movie or TV show is not available on any modern format beyond VHS or laserdisc and not available streaming, I consider it abandoned. Pirate it.

    • @cdgonepotatoes4219
      @cdgonepotatoes4219 Місяць тому

      If the hardware is abandonware, the media is abandonware

    • @the_kombinator
      @the_kombinator Місяць тому +1

      Same with software. If the hardware requirements are a 486 CPU and 8 Mb of RAM, you have to be pretty dedicated to want to run it (excluding DOSbox - use real hardware)

    • @prophetzarquon1922
      @prophetzarquon1922 Місяць тому +1

      I couldn't find my original disc, so I _tried_ to purchase Unreal Tournament (mostly for UnrealEd2)... but the port sold today is so hasty it requires newer & faster hardware than I have, so I had to find a copy of the original anyway

    • @andljoy
      @andljoy Місяць тому +8

      Ahhh the " well if you don't want my money" strategy. I would be more than happy to pay for a digital copy of an old show like Yes Minister at a reasonable price for the effort of them encoding it and providing a download ( say say 3.99 GBP) i am not paying 20 or 30 quid for the DVD when everyone who was behind the show is dead by now and i already paid the BBC to make it anyway as i am forced to pay a TV licence .

    • @KatamuroTheFirst
      @KatamuroTheFirst Місяць тому +8

      sometimes content is not available for purchase period, in any format because it's so old and wasn't popular enough. At that point it's not even piracy, it's archiving. There is LOADS of media that is lost because people didn't bother to preserve it

  • @LittIegator
    @LittIegator Місяць тому +2

    I think there's a whole category of people, especially in foreign countries but also among many Americans, where the issue is "the cost of paying for this is far too high for my income, but I still want to experience the art and culture of our times, so I pirate it knowing that it's immoral."

  • @giovannipizzato6888
    @giovannipizzato6888 День тому

    This is the type of discussions we need to have to mature people's purchasing decisions, which effectively control the economy and the behavior of companies. Great take on people's purchase decision making. Thanks for the vid!

  • @mattcrouch8984
    @mattcrouch8984 Місяць тому +169

    "...Repeated, Implicit, Enthusiastic consent..."
    This is why i have so much respect for you Louis

    • @MidlifeRenaissanceMan
      @MidlifeRenaissanceMan Місяць тому +18

      As opposed to a Retroactively Amended Purchase Experience??

    • @purpleprinc3
      @purpleprinc3 Місяць тому +5

      That's the kind of consent I'm after!! 😘

    • @yuviaro3511
      @yuviaro3511 Місяць тому +1

      I hope his girlfriend doesn't mind

    • @mmybickers
      @mmybickers Місяць тому

      @@purpleprinc3 nothing in life is worth doing without it!

    • @danieltoth9742
      @danieltoth9742 Місяць тому +1

      @@MidlifeRenaissanceMan Retroactively Applied Purchase Erasure?

  • @samuelforsyth6374
    @samuelforsyth6374 Місяць тому +125

    Ubisoft forcing you to create an account with them (accept their ToS) to play games I bought on steam , also wipes save files after ~8 month break

    • @rata536
      @rata536 Місяць тому +36

      For that, I would say just don't buy Ubisoft games. Don't pirate Ubisoft games. When someone invites you to play an Ubisoft game, tell them you won't be playing Ubisoft games because (shitty Ubisoft behaviour). Don't play Ubisoft games, period. As long as they know people want their stuff, they will keep their shitty terms and behaviours. Shit companies only change on pressure.

    • @mobilemarshall
      @mobilemarshall Місяць тому

      fuck ubisoft in particular

    • @IAmTheBugInsideYou
      @IAmTheBugInsideYou Місяць тому +9

      Yeah what the other guy said, Ubisoft has been dog shit for 5+ years. It's very easy to play games anywhere else just about instead of their games

    • @leonro
      @leonro Місяць тому

      ​@@rata536I have been doing exactly that. Before, I bought every once in a while some of the older Ubisoft stuff (Rayman, original Assassin's Creed games, etc.) but after repeatedly repulsive behaviour and the workplace scandals (the icing on the cake) I have simply avoided acknowledging their existence. Whenever a game of theirs pops up on Steam, I swiftly ignore it. Similar things happened to me with EA, Take Two and Activision-Blizzard. I enjoyed their games in the past, but I don't want anything to do with them anymore.
      Maybe they've gotten better over time, and I'm Christian so forgiveness is natural, but I'll hold onto my sentiment until I can see some meaningful change in either behaviour or leadership. It is silly to move on while the terms of service remain unchanged. I cannot stop supporting my country when I don't like the government, but I sure can stop supporting a company, especially if it's non-essential.
      But heck, boycotting Ubisoft is easy. They have barely made any games worth playing in the last 10 years, especially if you experienced some of their prior releases. I'm just about to stop supporting Nintendo, whose games I have enjoyed a lot ever since I was a child. At the very least, even if I won't be able to hold on, I don't want to buy them new. There are many indie games if I ever feel the need for entertainment, and those people cannot behave badly with customers.

    • @NoahGooder
      @NoahGooder Місяць тому +13

      "also wipes save files after ~8 month break" oh they can fuck so far off that they are outside the solar system. I wondered for years what happened to some of my saves because of life stuff happening. I also regularly take breaks because of low energy/ADHD fueled loops. So continuing 8 months later is somewhat common for me.
      I legit thought i was being agressively gaslit for a good year and it made it hard to even get back in the AC game i was enjoying.

  • @altonmiles8067
    @altonmiles8067 2 дні тому

    Thank you for making this video. While watching it I realized that I was much lower on that list than I would've liked to admit and I've just started a subscription and will support some of my favorite content creators directly right after this. I hope you keep challenging your viewers to be the change they want to see as I think that, maybe even more so than your informative videos, will be the biggest positive influence.

  • @papercliprain3222
    @papercliprain3222 Місяць тому +3

    I really appreciate hearing a nuanced approach to this. I love old games and there are just so many ps2 games and older pc games that I have been playing in Japanese that there is no way to give the creator money. I love supporting artists but if I can’t hand them money anymore because the game was never remade or ported then it’s not stealing. There are some really dumb takes out there about how if you can only get a game by paying a reseller on eBay 200 dollars for a twenty year old disk then that is still morally wrong to download a rom but that is just so asinine that I can’t handle it.

  • @eliudelcastillo2350
    @eliudelcastillo2350 Місяць тому +116

    Intresting. There's also a video explaining a reaserch done on how piracy affects videogames. They found that it has a positive effect on that particular industry.

    • @dh2032
      @dh2032 Місяць тому +4

      yes I would imagine like that much, why would buy a full version, and with all rape that Louis describing here, need serial licence keys to verified well that great un till the server goes down?

    • @bladeoflucatiel
      @bladeoflucatiel Місяць тому +18

      What I know for sure is denuvo fucks up every single new release, I dont even buy games on day one anymore, 2 months later theyre like 30% off anyways.

    • @ivan4ikok
      @ivan4ikok Місяць тому +1

      Different research found no correlation and another - negative effect

    • @rationalbushcraft
      @rationalbushcraft Місяць тому +8

      Well I will say that Metallica has not gotten one penny from me since the Napster thing. I think the biggest issue was they couldn't produce anything that anyone wanted to hear anymore and if people pirated it first they wouldn't buy it later.

    • @ajobdunwell2585
      @ajobdunwell2585 Місяць тому

      Something similar happened with music. A lot of the managed talent lost a little on album sales but everyone else had an increase. Also drew in a lot more merch and ticket sales at local venues from people who otherwise wouldn't have known.

  • @taemien9219
    @taemien9219 Місяць тому +103

    When I was in college about 25 years ago, we learned that copyright law allowed the consumer to have a copy of a piece of software for backup purposes. Where that backup came from is irrelevant. If you pay for a piece of software, you have the ability to make a copy for your own personal use. The idea was you make a purchase, make a copy, and then use the copy as your main means of consuming the content. This way the original would be preserved and if the copy got damaged, lost, stolen, or erased, then you could make a new copy.
    This means when you purchase access to content and then the content is for whatever reason, removed. You can legally use a copy you've obtained (source does not matter). As the the content was obviously lost, stolen, or damage (aka removed from an account). EULA do not apply, they are not legally binding, and they would have the burden to show a signature to any sort of binding contract they wish to claim.
    Therefor, using digital means to obtain a copy of content that you have purchased is NOT piracy. Software piracy is when a user obtains or creates a copy of a product that has not been purchased. Once the owner or distributor has received payment for digital content, it is impossible for the consumer to commit software piracy.
    When content is removed from an account, it is considered lost or damaged. And to my knowledge, this law hasn't been changed in the last quarter century.
    So if you all decide to use some form of online procurement of content you have already purchased, you are not doing anything immoral, unethical, or illegal (in the US at least, can't speak for outside, though I believe the EU is very similar or even more protective of the consumer in some cases). The ones offering such a service might be doing something that is in a grey area by not verifying purchases, but that is none of our business, that is between them and the IP holder.
    If businesses do not wish for consumers to obtain their legal copies from sources they feel operate in such a grey area, then they should offer the ability to their consumers to obtain such copies in a fashion that is easy, no restrictions, and without any strings attached. That should be considered an ultimatum. Either offer the service or we go elsewhere.

    • @wilh3lmmusic
      @wilh3lmmusic Місяць тому

      And then there’s DRM. F*** DMCA 1201.

    • @nikelquint
      @nikelquint Місяць тому +4

      This is how i always viewed it

    • @leonro
      @leonro Місяць тому +4

      It's still somewhat iffy because you cannot guarantee that the version you download is exactly the same. Maybe it's updated, or you download a premium version containing paid add-ons that you did not own. Good luck finding a torrent of a game with two expansions, but you only had the base game + second expansion. That, or finding a game version without the pre-order bonus that you missed. It's virtually impossible. Not to mention that you're never buying just a copy nowadays, as it is only a license.
      Not that I care if you do pirate stuff like this, but it's something to keep in mind in this argument. The content providers have developed a lot of loopholes to sidestep these older laws. Copyright law needs to be revised, because if has gotten ridiculous.

    • @taemien9219
      @taemien9219 Місяць тому

      @@leonro Yeah this is why I wish it was as easy to make copies as it used to be. And it would behoove businesses to make that easy for their customers and not harder. Otherwise their consumers will download things they may not have full access for.
      But they shouldn't have been driven to have to go to those measures in the first place. I think you mostly agree though. As I do about pro-consumer changes to copyrights and property ownership.

    • @RetroTinkerer
      @RetroTinkerer Місяць тому

      It's interesting, but if you ever read the license agreement included with software you will notice that you are no purchasing a disc or a floppy but the right to use the software as indicated on the agreement... Let's say you purchase a computer with a license that grant you the right to use MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 on that computer but only on that computer, then you can't sell the software or hardware by itself... In fact if you ever receive a computer that was sold with an OEM software the new owner of the computer still have the right to install the software even if the discs had been damaged or lost.
      And yeah license agreements can be super shitty and some of the small print end up without legal support in some countries.

  • @TurboLoveTrain
    @TurboLoveTrain 22 дні тому

    Long time viewer but rarely do I post:
    I love that you are very clearly a technically competent dude who could do all sorts of crazy green screen background effects but you run with two mismatched doors and a light switch for your backdrop.

  • @crisscrossam
    @crisscrossam Місяць тому +2

    Throughout this whole video, one little sentence you said resonated with me: "it's not my problem".
    I don't remember exactly when you said it or in what context, but it's a very good point to drive home, which is that when for example digital content gets removed because some company stopped paying to host it or whatever, why should i, the person who bought a copy of that content whether it's media, video games, ebooks or whatever, lose it? This all goes back to the whole new paradigm of "when you pay for something you don't own it you just are granted access to a copy of it and that access or the content itself is volatile" which is very abusive behavior by the companies that sell the content and goes completely against not just the right of ownership, but freedom. If the US is such a free country why do they allow and participate in these practices? Same applies for any other free country.

  • @chasekellow3835
    @chasekellow3835 Місяць тому +29

    The original full metal alchemist, a show I grew up with, is no longer available for sale because the copyright owners don’t want people watching it instead of brotherhood. Because of this, the only option is to pirate the video or to purchase a low quality burned dvd from ebay

    • @abdullahtrees5204
      @abdullahtrees5204 Місяць тому

      Ew, FMAB is way better :(

    • @superleetmegapunx
      @superleetmegapunx Місяць тому +8

      @@abdullahtrees5204 Not the point. Melissa is a great track and that makes the show worth at least a single watch.

    • @chasekellow3835
      @chasekellow3835 Місяць тому

      ​@@abdullahtrees5204FMAB is a bunch of generic anime fights strung together with a plot with no point to it all. FMAB even intended you to have watched the original beforehand bc they rush and skip early content assuming you've seen the original

    • @marianealonso202
      @marianealonso202 Місяць тому +1

      ​@@abdullahtrees5204 It's great for the first 25 or so episodes, while the story is the same. And it's great to watch those right before brotherhood

    • @LeFlamel
      @LeFlamel Місяць тому +3

      @@abdullahtrees5204 you are factually incorrect

  • @TheCrain
    @TheCrain Місяць тому +59

    I've bought PS1 games off of Sony's network multiple times as well as physical copies from my childhood AND my adulthood. I ain't buying them again. 4 times is enough. Especially now that Sony can literally go into your online library and remove media as shown with a video game demo they released and then deleted from everyone's system. Or netflix altering movies like removing a nudey book page from "Back to the Future." Who does that? This is why I have become like 8-track guy. I will have physical copies of everything until the day I die.

    • @satsumagt5284
      @satsumagt5284 Місяць тому +3

      As a person who bought GTA V on XBOX 360, ONE and PC, you may very well imagine that I’m not interesting into buying another game from Rockstar (and not even pirating new releases!)
      At least I could sell the XBOX versions, even at a loss, as they were physical copies.

    • @watsonwrote
      @watsonwrote Місяць тому +3

      Yeah, not having the physical copies sucks when digital services will eventually shut down. I've been able to play all the games I enjoyed as a kid on original save files, play newer games offline, and play specific versions. In 20, 25 years how much of my digital library will still be available and in the way that I want? My games from over two decades ago are still accessible.

    • @satsumagt5284
      @satsumagt5284 Місяць тому +4

      @@watsonwrote I’m gonna feel bad for people who bought the XBOX ONE S All-Digital edition, when the console is 20 years old and as useful as a doorweight- Yes, not even as a Blu-Ray player, as it lacks one (duh).
      PS2 owners on the other hand, who took great care of their consoles, are actually quite happy nowadays.

    • @user-is2mj2ig4v
      @user-is2mj2ig4v Місяць тому +3

      @@satsumagt5284 yesss my ps2 still works great

    • @TallulahSoie
      @TallulahSoie Місяць тому +4

      Don't forget digital versions get censored and altered constantly to fit the narrative.
      Unless you have the hard copies you are getting an altered product.

  • @SkipperWing
    @SkipperWing Місяць тому

    Thank you for this.
    It contextualizes into words the problem I have with the discussion of piracy, as an artist.
    Especially when, as a visual independent artist, I am repeatedly asked to bend over backwards to provide free content on the hopes that someone would find value enough to support me.
    What I’ve noticed is that people who are mostly in the latter few categories (lie to justify piracy/feel entitled to content and tools) will similarly bend over backwards to use the first-to-middle few categories to justify their actions.
    Mostly cuz no one’s actions exist in a vacuum, and you can see the inconsistency in how they treat different situations.
    Thank you for your last point (don’t engage/don’t feed the corporations). I think that last point is what truly exposes where people really sit on the issue. Most people (in the piracy space) don’t really care about the ethics of piracy OR the practices of the company as long as they get theirs.
    I think the other thing that we don’t consider (because admittedly, distribution is glutted up by greedy corporations*) is “right to withhold.” If a producer simply doesn’t want whatever they made out in the world anymore, at what point are we not simply not entitled to it anymore? Or (in the case of video game console makers) the media was meant to be consumed a very specific way, and once that way is gone, the producer simply isn’t interested in recreating it?
    *to address the asterisk, most corporations shoot this argument in the foot by re-releasing their media in predatory fashion, but that does not, IMO invalidate the right to withhold distribution, in the same way that right to withhold doesn’t invalidate right to distribute existing copies/versions.
    Either way, great points, and thanks for the video!

  • @evan
    @evan Місяць тому

    Really appreciate all the nuanced bits to this one Louis

  • @pureoxin8135
    @pureoxin8135 Місяць тому +24

    UA-cam actually does do this too if you rent movies. Rent in 4k but you can’t even watch in 1080p in the same browser you paid for.

    • @mistermiyagi6073
      @mistermiyagi6073 Місяць тому +5

      who tf rents movies 😂😂😂

    • @hubertnnn
      @hubertnnn Місяць тому

      @@mistermiyagi6073People in the 90s.

    • @Ammut6
      @Ammut6 Місяць тому

      ignorant comment is ignorant@@mistermiyagi6073

  • @greghanson7047
    @greghanson7047 Місяць тому +311

    Piracy is never stealing.
    Stealing requires you to deprive the owner of their property. Pirates make unauthorized copies.
    Piracy can never be stealing and we should not allow media conglomerates to redefine words to suit their agendas.

    • @the_expidition427
      @the_expidition427 Місяць тому +20

      Saving this

    • @An_Attempt
      @An_Attempt Місяць тому +26

      That is why it is called infringement.

    • @Chalky.
      @Chalky. Місяць тому +18

      By definition it isn't stealing, but that's like saying patent infringement also isn't stealing, so it's just complicated trying to define whether intellectual property copying is actual theft when no one is directly harmed.

    • @olwynskye417
      @olwynskye417 Місяць тому +10

      Maybe the tarts have accidentally removed the original ones? Which game company was it again that released a pirated and cracked copy of their game as an original to sell?
      E: Rockstar.

    • @hagoryopi2101
      @hagoryopi2101 Місяць тому +9

      That's a problem with the concept of IP at all. Ideas cannot be stolen because they can only be recreated in the minds of others, never removed from the mind of the original creator (unless you resort to physical violence, of course, which should be illegal for reasons completely distinct from the ideas behind IP). This makes it impossible for ideas to be property, because property is necessarily exclusive.
      Intellectual property and physical property are mutually exclusive. If someone else owns their idea more than you own the physical property with which you create it, which you rightfully owned leading up to that point, then you don't own your physical property.

  • @abhishekchatterjee5609
    @abhishekchatterjee5609 Місяць тому

    A lot of Respect from my side Louis 🙏🙏💯💯🔥🔥. Because of guys like you I help other people to understand what it means like to buy a subscription after buying it out there are so many flaws.

  • @axelfiraxa
    @axelfiraxa Місяць тому +46

    When i was in highschool piracy was pretty much the only way to get games and photoshop.
    My parents would occasionally buy me a game but that was the rare exception.
    Game studios never technically lost money because it would never have been bought

    • @Maximilian1990
      @Maximilian1990 Місяць тому +2

      They lost money because you would have been forced to save up and buy the software outright. They also had their rights infringed upon by your theft

    • @axelfiraxa
      @axelfiraxa Місяць тому

      ​@@Maximilian1990 that is literally impossible. I had essentially no money until i was about 16 and started earning my own.
      I never got "allowance" money.
      Adobe in particular has definitely recouped their losses with me, as fir everyone else you maybe dont understand that most families cant aford to buy as many games as a teenager can play.
      We did buy game cartridges back when that was a thing because the market was full of Nintendo Knock-offs, but a regular game was too expensive. The best way to get one legally was with the full games included in a magazine like PCGames and LEVEL which were popular in Romania at the time

    • @jonathanberry1111
      @jonathanberry1111 Місяць тому

      @@Maximilian1990 But it is still their own fault for not coming up with a pricing model that poorer people could afford. note that today many games are free but you pay for extra benefits. A lot of software has an ad supported tier free tier and then other tiers where it is somewhat better for additional money. Also you can offer both an outright purchase or a "pay per day/week/month/year" type system. The issue is that when they don't do this then there are only 3 options for people who aren't wealthy, one is save up and buy a very tiny percentage of the things they would like (and some don't have the money for even that), another is to have the thing for free, and the last one is to not have it and this one is perhaps the worst or the company as a free user sometimes encourages purchases while someone who doesn't use it can discourage others from buying it (interest in a thing can be infectious and this can work for or against the TV show, movie or game maker).

    • @ImminDragon
      @ImminDragon Місяць тому +21

      @@Maximilian1990 They didn't lose money. Not gaining money is not the same thing as losing money.

    • @LB-gv3vy
      @LB-gv3vy Місяць тому +6

      @@Maximilian1990forced to? Theoretically, but for a leisure product like a game or software you could very much go out with, it won’t really be a lost sale

  • @michaelweston5421
    @michaelweston5421 Місяць тому +19

    It may be old school I still buy the dvd or blue ray. I can watch it until the end of time.

    • @kirsten007
      @kirsten007 Місяць тому +1

      @@BrutallyHonestRevsYou cant watch the usa version that you bought on dvd ?

    • @RESISTAGE
      @RESISTAGE Місяць тому

      ​@@BrutallyHonestRevs
      any video player can decode pal or ntec.

    • @Roggor
      @Roggor Місяць тому

      ​@@BrutallyHonestRevs Region free players are common enough, plus if you're emigrating I find it unlikely you'd be shipping across every knick-knack and doodad from the old country.

    • @Sasha-zw9ss
      @Sasha-zw9ss Місяць тому

      I do get the appeal of physical media (like for collecting and feeling of "scarcity" that makes you value each piece of media more), but for me personally it is not worth it anymore. An external HDD can fit an equivalent of a whole shelf of DVDs, and I would feel uncomfortable having so many pieces of plastic laying around my home that I would never use. I don't even have a DVD player anymore, and think of replacing the DVD drive in my laptop with a second SATA storage. And I can also watch my digital media however and whenever I like, because it is all DRMless.

  • @Sembazuru
    @Sembazuru Місяць тому +1

    For sampling music, some music stores used to (not sure about today) have a way to sample music before purchasing. Back in the old days, they would have a dedicated listening room or just play the music over the PA system. Back in the newer days (once digital music became a thing), they would have self-service listening stations with headphones sprinkled around the store where you could pull up (almost?) any album they had in stock and listen to it. I can remember going into a store like The Wall, grabbing a CD that I was interested in, putting on the headphones there and jump around the album on their digital storage to listen to full tracks or parts of tracks to see if I was interested in the album. If I was interested, I would check out and they would put their "lifetime warranty" sticker on the outside of the case and I'd head home. (Now the lifetime warranty stickers are amusing bits of nostalgia on some of my CD cases.)

  • @bread8775
    @bread8775 Місяць тому +2

    One of the tiers could be like you mentioned with SUSE as a kid, where you might not have a lot of money, either because of horrible regional pricing or because you're young without a job, and you want to make sure that what might be one of a couple big purchases you make that year is really something you truly enjoy. Like an extended free trial or full size demo?

  • @igorgiuseppe1862
    @igorgiuseppe1862 Місяць тому +67

    those are the main reasons i pirate:
    1)Region lock (content not avaliable on my region)
    2)Censorship
    eg: you want to watch an anime...
    but instead of just translating it, they replaced the dialouges and/or add dialougues where there is none and/or replace the soundtrack and/or replace sound effects and/or redraw stuff to censor blood, violence, body parts exposure, foreigner food or for the sake of changing it without any reason.
    the reason why i mentioned anime is because that is quite common to happen in animes, but it can also happen in games and other medias.

    • @shirothefish9688
      @shirothefish9688 Місяць тому +12

      Honestly at this point the only anime I trust is pirated stuff, preferably with fansubs.
      because the mainline stuff is a goddang minefield.

    • @igorgiuseppe1862
      @igorgiuseppe1862 Місяць тому +1

      @@shirothefish9688exactly

    • @prophetzarquon1922
      @prophetzarquon1922 Місяць тому +3

      Fansubs are especially valuable when studios fail to release subtitles in one's language...
      They can also be more accurate\hilarious, at times.
      "Jellyfish Chips is like crack."
      'True.'

    • @AliciaGuitar
      @AliciaGuitar Місяць тому

      I pirated Kundun because it is censored/restricted to keep China happy 🙄 i would have gladly paid for it, but it was impossible 🤷‍♀️

    • @VoiceOvaGuy
      @VoiceOvaGuy Місяць тому +1

      @@shirothefish9688 Are we talking subbed or dubbed? I find subbed shows coming right from Japanese television with some quick subtitles added are pretty good. You're fumbling in the dark with dubbed though. Who knows if any crazy political activists will be putting their messages in it and ruining the material along the way, or any form of censorship you mentioned.

  • @CRANEREVIEWS
    @CRANEREVIEWS Місяць тому +11

    For the older folks going from Vinyl to Tape to CD to Digital with music, or VHS to DVD to BluRay to Digital..
    Hearing that it's copyright infringement or piracy to copy after I already paid for the same thing multiple times..
    Yeah, totally equal!

  • @GYTCommnts
    @GYTCommnts Місяць тому

    Very reasonable approach, Louis. I agree.

  • @benjaminpark2028
    @benjaminpark2028 Місяць тому +2

    This list explanation would be great to have for showing others.

  • @doitminecraft
    @doitminecraft Місяць тому +28

    I’ve definitely never pirated before ;) ;) but but I’d imagine that pirating a college text book is more satisfying than just a tv show. My buddy did in fact save over $400 in a single semester by pirating textbooks.

    • @Fasteroid
      @Fasteroid Місяць тому +4

      College textbooks are even more horrible now because of platforms like Cengage. Not only is the online homework bundled with the textbook (making piracy impossible since you n3ed the homework to pass), but the lifespan of the textbook is also ARTIFICIALLY LIMITED by mak8jg it only available to rent. Want to reference the textbook after you finish that class? Better pay up! 🤓

    • @JamesTDG
      @JamesTDG Місяць тому +3

      @@Fasteroid BEHOLD! The screenshot tool!

    • @Twiddle_things
      @Twiddle_things Місяць тому +1

      ​@@JamesTDG if only. I'm not in college but a lot of these streaming services, apps and even websites don't let you screenshot or screen record. The result is pitch black or a blob or ineligible pixels.

    • @dcd3lt4
      @dcd3lt4 Місяць тому +3

      ​@@Twiddle_thingsUhm, Behold(?)! My phone camera(?)!
      Though I'll agree, that's pretty sucky. And it's not limited to school books now. As a gov't employee, even memos and orders are getting uploaded to these shitty 'learning' sites, paywalled, then get botted to the front page of search results. Though this wouldn't be a fucking problem if the gov websites always works and isn't a pain in the ass to navigate.

  • @coldy9887
    @coldy9887 Місяць тому +16

    Fuck all corporations. You ARE the product and they give zero fucks about you. WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!

  • @thomasparker7305
    @thomasparker7305 Місяць тому +1

    I agree with you, the main problem I have with the copyright stuff is that forever now. There is a reason that it was supposed to be 14 years with one extension possible. They should never had changed this.

  • @WillYouVid
    @WillYouVid Місяць тому

    Thank you for this mature reflection about piracy and ownership in current and recent times

  • @novelezra
    @novelezra Місяць тому +99

    No, its not. One case I keep arguing with people about is impoverished countries. If you can't buy Switch games in your country or you cant afford them because you live in a 2nd or 3rd world country; then you are absolutely entitled to pirate whatever you want.
    Art is free, the only reason we pay for it is so that artists can keep making art (publishers by extension provide capital to artists/developers).
    If you cant afford a piece of media or it's not available then its literally a loss to no one.
    If theres a kid in a country with no clean water and hes emulating Nintendo games on his PC, then I do not give a rats ass and neither should you.
    No one will change my mind on this.

    • @illegalopinions4082
      @illegalopinions4082 Місяць тому +7

      Art still requires labour. Someone worked to produce that art. The kid who has no clean water should probably focus on getting some instead of emulating Nintendo games.

    • @zlikez
      @zlikez Місяць тому +46

      watch out, the nintendo boot lickers will be mad that the impoverished want to also enjoy some luxuries in life. God forbid people have fun without putting themselves in more debt.

    • @RavenTaleLive
      @RavenTaleLive Місяць тому +39

      @@illegalopinions4082 That's not how the world works. The burden of "Finding pure water" does not fall on little children who have next to no idea what they're looking for. you will find these kids playing on the streets even if they are a few days away from dying of thirst.
      Kids in a 3rd world country somehow getting their hands on a pirated copy of media does not affect those who created it since they have no way of paying these artists.

    • @novelezra
      @novelezra Місяць тому +38

      @@illegalopinions4082 "Oh you're poor? Well just pull your socks up and get out there! Oh... Uh, yeah, sorry about the army we sent that blew up your home. Anyway, don't play Nintendo. Thanks"

    • @volvo09
      @volvo09 Місяць тому +11

      That's a good point because if I were that artist I wouldn't have made the sale anyways.
      Piracy also "spreads the word" so to speak... Lots of people learned Windows, Photoshop, AutoCAD, etc by using pirated software to learn. Once you learn something you want to keep using it and not switch to another, UNLESS the company seriously screws you and forces you away.

  • @n3tw0rk_n3k0
    @n3tw0rk_n3k0 Місяць тому +160

    If buying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing

    • @bnorrish
      @bnorrish Місяць тому +3

      What is renting?

    • @Ary3660
      @Ary3660 Місяць тому +17

      How many more fucking times are people going to comment this shit?

    • @shaggy7599
      @shaggy7599 Місяць тому +9

      yup. if you can be banned and have your entire library stolen from you? then piracy is equal game.

    • @Binzob
      @Binzob Місяць тому +9

      @@bnorrish paying to be able to use something temporarily, where you have the knowledge it's only temporary and you don't own it.

    • @authurstretchygreenthing8464
      @authurstretchygreenthing8464 Місяць тому +22

      @@Ary3660 Until they quit giving us reasons to say it.

  • @arunbchill
    @arunbchill Місяць тому +1

    i new here and im sticking around because of the way you talk i respect

  • @TheSlipknotfreak1993
    @TheSlipknotfreak1993 Місяць тому

    Love this video thanks man

  • @Wren1
    @Wren1 Місяць тому +9

    I still only buy my music on CDs and rip them myself. This way I have a completely lossless, DRM-free, perfectly tagged library and the CD goes into ‘The Archive (tm)’ and collects dust as a final stage backup. There are a few shops local to me that sell a really good selection of used CDs for $1-$5 USD, so it ends up costing a lot less too.

  • @NelielSugiura
    @NelielSugiura Місяць тому +12

    Just one of the things I have stuck to since Uni times: "If it is available on the open, free, public carrier waves, then I see no reason getting a copy from the high seas is a problem. I just have no desire to deal with an antennae, TV box/card, and TV when I already have a perfectly working computer that can play media."

    • @TheMysteryDriver
      @TheMysteryDriver Місяць тому

      Ignores that they have ads and pay for Access to those airwaves.

  • @user-ob2cc2jz9w
    @user-ob2cc2jz9w Місяць тому

    you present a good sense of thought process.

  • @hlgglh
    @hlgglh Місяць тому +2

    Level 0, I pirate whatever I feel like AND I encourage other's to pirate whatever I create. I make drawings, among other things, take a screenshot, make a copy, share and promote it. I'd be happy

  • @litigioussociety4249
    @litigioussociety4249 Місяць тому +50

    As a free market person who doesn't support intellectual property emforcement, I have no problem with piracy. Such things should be funded through people commissioning the project, donating afterward, or buying physical merchandise that's related. For example, a lot of kid's programming makes more money off of the toys and such for the franchise than the show or movie.
    I don't know if anyone ever gives money to Winrar, but it's an example of a product done that way.

    • @wilh3lmmusic
      @wilh3lmmusic Місяць тому +15

      If I remember correctly, WinRAR gets their money from enterprise customers primarily.

    • @sabersz
      @sabersz Місяць тому

      Jesus CHRIST lol, and I thought mine was bad
      I had to buy two textbooks for physics, totalling about £45. The teachers wanted us to give them back at the end of our course but I merely said, "no thanks, I paid for these" and still have them to this day.
      Best part? My other subjects such as mathematics gave them out for free and I also kept those. I use them occasionally too to brush up my knowledge!

    • @boggless2771
      @boggless2771 Місяць тому

      I get how some IP needs protection. I just dont think it should restrict your use as a consumer. For example, LLMs (AI) are big now and they are the result of millions of dollars of GPUs and kWh to get something that works. I can see why something like that should be protected. Movies, same thing, though copyright law should expire MUCH earlier, IMO like 1 year after its been out on theaters is more than enough. They've made their money.
      I dont have a problem with IP protection, its just way overdone now, to the point where piracy gives you a better product.

    • @VoiceOvaGuy
      @VoiceOvaGuy Місяць тому +1

      @@boggless2771 And as someone not a part of that company, and not a part of any law enforcement, it only makes sense to use piracy as a tool to fight back against anti-consumerism masquerading as companies "rights" or some such nonsense. It's all just greed. You're right, all these entertainment products would make enough money in 1-2 years that it could go free past that point. But they would *NEVER* throw away even the smallest potential profit, after all, it's the only thing that matters to them.

    • @ETXAlienRobot201
      @ETXAlienRobot201 26 днів тому

      @@wilh3lmmusic the compression algorithm specifically is also proprietary. and it's definitely relying on IP to have any enforcement of that. not sure if they've gone after anyone for it, but that seems to be the intent. it does seem to be the case enterprise users pay to use winrar. ironic, since they'd probably save money using, oh, 7zip? i can personally say that i no longer use winrar. i never really liked it in the first place. i primarily use 7zip and it does well exactly what i need it to do, save for some very rare exceptions. [which are fault of other devs/companies creating non-standard and/or proprietary garbage]
      i'd actually say winrar's business model is comparable to adobe. you're freely allowed to open the final files and download the viewers for those, but they expect a pretty penny to create those files or buy those tools for authoring them. ofc, winrar doesn't have a deathgrip like adobe does, so they're in no position to extort users. if they relied solely on donations or merch, "purchase this program" would be completely off the table and there wouldn't be aversion to opening the compression algorithm.

  • @Gabby-bot
    @Gabby-bot Місяць тому +12

    I worked in the motion picture industry from the time I was 17 years old until I retired. Therefore I torrented movies (2.36Tb) with a clear conscience. Also have a card for free movie tickets that never expires.
    Thanks for the video and I agree with you.
    Greetings from -Gabriel of Norway.

  • @TheNerd484
    @TheNerd484 Місяць тому +1

    One aspect of piracy you didn't touch on that I think is distinct is when a hobbyist pirates professional software for which no adequate free version exists, especially if that software is offered only as a subscription.

  • @moeheil8839
    @moeheil8839 Місяць тому +6

    Im broke, have no respect for copyright law, i do what i want

  • @horusfalcon
    @horusfalcon Місяць тому +9

    Fun fact: Copyright laws originally only protected works for twenty years, period. This was to protect authors and other creators, and their publishers, for a time to allow them to recoup the costs of distribution of the works and make a reasonable profit therefrom. Then came the ability for a copyright holder to extend a copyright by renewal. This was roughly concurrent with the advent of motion pictures. It was reasonable to allow rights holders to extend a copyright if the work was still selling well enough to justify it (of course, this criteria would be repeatedly abused).
    Fast forward to our rapacious 100 year copyrights under the DMCA, including scurrilous outfits who buy up and renew the copyrights for works that actually belong in the Public Domain, then sell them. Does anyone reading see a trend here?
    Another fun fact: _Information wants to be free!_

    • @AlexsGoogleAccount
      @AlexsGoogleAccount Місяць тому +1

      This is what is missing from the conversation. It would be a lot more rational to take a stand against piracy if we had a reasonable public domain.
      Nearly all of the content I've pirated has been 15-30 years old at the time I pirated it and wasn't being sold by its publisher anymore.
      But then you see companies like Nintendo do their best to shut down every ROM Hack and fanmade product to their games. One fan took Pokemon Crystal, which was published in 2000 and from 2008 to 2016 worked on transforming it into their "Pokemon Prism" hack, which used all new graphics, music, region design, plot, and features... It didn't resemble Crystal whatsoever anymore and the maker of the hack was not making a profit off of it.
      They shut it down because just a year later they would re-release Crystal in their E-Shop and didn't want competition.
      Ideally, we would have a period of time where no copyright infringement is allowed and then a period of time where copyright infringement is allowed but not for profit.

    • @AlexsGoogleAccount
      @AlexsGoogleAccount Місяць тому

      Maybe this would look like 15 years of protection against copyright infringement, after which piracy of that content is fully legal.
      And then 35 years later (for a total of 50 years) it hits public domain.

    • @ETXAlienRobot201
      @ETXAlienRobot201 26 днів тому

      @@AlexsGoogleAccount if there's a cut-off at which point "you're legally allowed to pirate it" , why then wait an additional 35 years to go fully public domain? also, 15 years flat is more than enough time.

    • @AlexsGoogleAccount
      @AlexsGoogleAccount 25 днів тому

      @@ETXAlienRobot201
      After the cutoff point, there are no protections against piracy, but an individual or company cannot re-sell your product or profit from it.

    • @ETXAlienRobot201
      @ETXAlienRobot201 25 днів тому

      @@AlexsGoogleAccount but...why? is there even a difference at that point?

  • @WTFoolproof
    @WTFoolproof Місяць тому +57

    As a dyslexic I feel safe in saying that the people who notice these scams are almost always neurologicaly atypical. these scams are more invisible to most people and that is by design. They know how to hide the price point and the cost to benefit, etc.
    As a paper and pencil gamer my community has long been riden and used by companies who bought out the original creators and/or robbed them and refuse to pay royalties. I want to form pirate guilds to make fan edits of the games we already own and have to re-purchase every time the company rewrites the rules just to sell books. The dungeons and dragons community was once just people who did not fit in anywhere else but our community was great and we really did look out for each other. Now companies inject weird politics where they don't belong and try to divide communities. All the good will is gone and it is just a matter of time before more people wake up to how badly they've been abused for stinking worthless money. What they have traded for cash is priceless and will maybe never be again. They robbed the whole world with their stupid greed even if very few people realize it.

    • @DavidPereiraLima123
      @DavidPereiraLima123 Місяць тому +9

      Aw, man, I got very interested into your post when I read dyslexia reconignizing dark patterns but at the end I felt sad because of the political tangent. Weird politics, yeah, funny how the """"""""inclusive"""""""""" "people" exclude MAINLY who needs inclusion the most. They're about dividing and conquering, I question if it is about profit anymore, I tend to think not. It's an honor to fight with you in the boycotting ranks, king. Let's keep opening people's eyes. I'm bipolar, btw.

    • @WTFoolproof
      @WTFoolproof Місяць тому +8

      @@DavidPereiraLima123I see it as fixing their mistakes. Inserting art and margin scrolls that deter photocopy attempts wouldn't rile me if the art was better. By design it has to look muddy and overly detailed, apparently.
      the same is done with the actual rules by spreading them across multiple pages or chapters when it could be put into a few information rich charts.
      the grasping greedy hands are crushing the life out of the IP they have control over. If they saw popular fan edits I think they might feel pressure to get in front of them.

    • @nazaxprime
      @nazaxprime Місяць тому +1

      TSR was where I drew the line. F WotC.

    • @AliciaGuitar
      @AliciaGuitar Місяць тому +1

      WotC incites me to be enraged.. and i was a Buddhist nun and meditation expert so that is saying a lot 😅

    • @VoiceOvaGuy
      @VoiceOvaGuy Місяць тому

      Right on both accounts. Right on them using tactics most people somehow don't see and end up defending (although it's blatantly obvious to me how corrupt and malicious many of these tactics are). And the super *inclusive* group is just the fake group. If you flip everything they say to the opposite, it makes perfect sense and lines up with their actions. They're inclusive, they want to help people, and everyone will be happier listening to what they say. Now invert all 3 of those statements and it becomes accurate.

  • @camdynkellett6782
    @camdynkellett6782 Місяць тому +1

    My rule of thumb is if you have to sign up for every streaming service to watch what you want, then you can pirate it. These companies had nothing to do with the production of the film and all they have done is paid some ungodly fee for the rights to share the content. How much of your monthly fee ACTUALLY goes to the actors and directors, filmers etc. basically zero.

  • @hexabellezarco
    @hexabellezarco Місяць тому

    I remember when I was in college, I would sail the high seas for a few different reasons: a lot of the music I listened to wasn't available for purchase anywhere because it was too old/ too obscure, music was geographically restricted so I couldn't buy it, or it was an artist I liked and wanted to support but couldn't at the time, but I made sure to buy the albums from him when I saw him in concert (also paying for concert tickets). The other scenario was when textbooks were exceptionally expensive that wouldn't even be bound and the class required, yet only used once or twice the entire semester. Or worse, they required you to buy the book code, which was the same price and gave you extremely limited access even through the proper channels. That's crap.

  • @mapl3mage
    @mapl3mage Місяць тому +12

    "We want to justify things that we don't really want to do, which is pay for something, by coming up with some excuse.... Just be honest with yourself."
    very well said.

    • @hossosplitternacken7819
      @hossosplitternacken7819 Місяць тому

      property is theft... and thats why

    • @leonardonetagamer
      @leonardonetagamer Місяць тому

      ​@@hossosplitternacken7819no, it isn't

    • @Maximilian1990
      @Maximilian1990 Місяць тому

      @@hossosplitternacken7819 agreed, now give me your phone/computer

    • @Maximilian1990
      @Maximilian1990 Місяць тому

      @@hossosplitternacken7819 agreed now give me your phone and your PC

    • @Maximilian1990
      @Maximilian1990 Місяць тому

      @@hossosplitternacken7819 agreed now give me your phone and your PC

  • @Skilital
    @Skilital Місяць тому +41

    if you appreciate someone's solo work it's always better to support the creators of movies, videos, etc DIRECTLY if possible than to pay greedy companies.

    • @Cornz38
      @Cornz38 Місяць тому +4

      I have never paid MS for an OS. I have paid independant developers for software i use a lot.

    • @kirsten007
      @kirsten007 Місяць тому +3

      Agree - I was looking at B&N publishers and authors that sell through B&N that have 8 dollar books get 40 cents!! Imagine pirating that book online and donating 8 bucks to the author. It would do them so much better. Fuck publishing companies

    • @Skilital
      @Skilital Місяць тому +1

      @@kirsten007 publishing companies are made to make money off someone's creation. it's an outdated thinking, on internet you don't need to pay somebody 80% to get seen. Yeah, maybe your exposure will be smaller, still is very possible, plus developing authenticity and separation is signs of confidence 😊

  • @lehran2516
    @lehran2516 Місяць тому +1

    Some of my favorite shows and games fall into that area where you just can't legally purchase them anymore. Mortal Kombat 9 a game a lot of players consider one of the series best is no longer available for direct sale because they lost the rights to a guest character Freddy. All the future releases also are on the path to sharing that fate with their guest characters as well.

  • @ZazzVGC
    @ZazzVGC Місяць тому +1

    yo thank you for having respect for your viewers' time. No needless introductions, you speak fast enough that i assumed the video was at 2x speed and you have a timestamp indicating where to skip to your regular viewers

  • @Zyo117
    @Zyo117 Місяць тому +7

    Tom Scott's video about copyright is right at the top of my recommendations under this video 😂

  • @CCP_Xyed
    @CCP_Xyed Місяць тому +51

    There is still a solid case of:
    There are people that are asking themselves each month "Do I buy food this week or pay one of the bills?"
    There are people that buying a music CD would cost them 20%-30%-50% of their paycheck.
    For them it's never a case of "I don't want to", but a case of "I can't even think about entering a store that sells it, because I can't even afford the bus ride to the store."

    • @mattgibson9337
      @mattgibson9337 Місяць тому +3

      I'm sorry but unless you are specifically talking about buying an old CD from a third party; or you are talking about people who live in third world countries where the price of the CD hasn't been adjusted to their standard of living. There is no world where buying a music CD costs 50% of your paycheck.

    • @rumfordc
      @rumfordc Місяць тому +20

      @@mattgibson9337 he most likely means 50% of what is _left_ of their paycheck after paying bills

    • @Maesaaj
      @Maesaaj Місяць тому

      @@mattgibson9337 Maybe not CD but PC games and or Blurays for sure, i'm from 2nd world country (not 3rd world and not 1st world) and i know people that until very recently made around 450 euro after taxes, hell my first salary i got in my 1st job after school was 400 euro, so there are places where full price of PC game is 20%-30% of someone's salary, not even talking about 3rd world countries where people earn 1 dollar a day or something stupid like that. I'm not saying that if you can't afford something its ok to steal it, far from it, but i understand if someone from Philippines or kazachstan pirates all his stuff and in my opinion company shouldn't go after him because there was no way he could ever afford their american prices or get anything from him if they sue him for "stealing" their intellectual property.

    • @prophetzarquon1922
      @prophetzarquon1922 Місяць тому +1

      You can _pay bills?_
      I just don't get to do things that require paying more than once.
      Having standards is _really_ expensive...

    • @andycopeland7051
      @andycopeland7051 Місяць тому

      Doesn't make it okay.

  • @tranquilpowerhouse
    @tranquilpowerhouse Місяць тому

    Great video. Can't agree more about 2 things, which is honesty with one's own self and invalidation of those who mess with you by ignoring them entirely. Really, great points and a detailed hierarchy.
    That said, words like 'value', 'incentive', 'compensation' are man-made BS things to justify control over others. If you're providing value because you're getting something in return for it, the thing you're providing loses its whole significance.
    If people can't simply share everything each other without constantly 'transacting', without constantly 'buying/selling/trading', then that's their failure. I'm staunchly a level 15 person and happy to be, because I find economics and business to be as stupid as they get. Either simply provide value without requiring incentives and compensations or get out.

  • @claudvigilante
    @claudvigilante Місяць тому +1

    I did not expect a mention of Little Earthquakes in this video.

  • @bustergundo516
    @bustergundo516 Місяць тому +26

    Thanks for the message at the beginning

  • @ro2974
    @ro2974 Місяць тому +12

    i appreciate the hierarcy and the explanations for each tier! also really like the point about recognizing that there are a lot of people behind the scenes too besides artists who deserve to be credited as well. it's quite easy for people to devalue them and their contributions. people already devalue artists and the labour that goes into creating art in any form!

  • @geekygamer3954
    @geekygamer3954 Місяць тому +1

    You should make a video talking about video games that use safedisk, and how you can't play them anymore. I'd really enjoy that.

  • @DingusBatus
    @DingusBatus Місяць тому

    I’m with you on the buying things. You buy it means you own it and nobody can take it away.
    I can’t remember where I heard it first..
    If buying isn’t owning then piracy isn’t stealing.

  • @cantileveredapotheosis
    @cantileveredapotheosis Місяць тому +8

    Do you remember when amazon was creating the mesh network with the ring doorbell. This is exactly why I always said they were doing it... (@4:30) so companies could license the communications and be able to capture your usage data even without an internet connection...
    In the future it won't even be enough to just "not connect the device to the wifi".

    • @prophetzarquon1922
      @prophetzarquon1922 Місяць тому +1

      Service providers: "decentralized networks aren't sufficient to meet end-user's needs"
      Service providers: "decentralized networks are a great way to meet end-user's needs"

  • @capraagricola
    @capraagricola Місяць тому +10

    Audible stole 2 Terry Pratchett books from my library because someone else bought the rights to produce audibooks for them in USA and started doing frankly mediocre theater-esque productions of the abridged books. So, I cancelled my subscription and I pirated his complete discworld set which is easily found on the internet archive. I've already purchased the audiobooks and the full softcover set, while he was alive.

    • @ThatGuy-ky2yf
      @ThatGuy-ky2yf Місяць тому +1

      The Internet Archive I find is slightly underrated for games and audio.

    • @ETXAlienRobot201
      @ETXAlienRobot201 26 днів тому

      @@ThatGuy-ky2yf that might be a good thing tbh.

  • @ToxicIdeaStorage
    @ToxicIdeaStorage Місяць тому +1

    3:05-3:10
    Not just TV-Manufacturers, Tablet Makers too.
    Bought a Acer Tab M10 recently, booted it up, and what did i see?
    A Eula, that's what.
    Never had any Device or Console that forced any Type of Contract on Activation.
    Doing that on digital Product without Notice is already enough Shade, but on Physical Products, without Notice i would call straight up a Scam.

  • @Teodor-ValentinMaxim
    @Teodor-ValentinMaxim 3 дні тому

    About the LG's option to sell your data, which was checked by default. I wouldn't trust even that checkbox, unless you will track your network usage and make sure it really acts that way.

  • @NoahGooder
    @NoahGooder Місяць тому +9

    as somone who has worked with a lot of abandoned and emulated stuff (yes im still pissed that citra was caught in the DMCA crossfire, I had to remove the direct github link and replace it with I think "I worked on emulation software").
    My own pov is that if the software and/or hardware are completely abandoned or have reached full retro scalping prices (eg needing to pay something like 5000$ for a working ps2 or ds or gamecube,etc). And the original company is no longer selling the object in its original form and is providing zero support (eg provides responses like "sorry cant help or just purchase the remake") then piracy should be allowed because we are picking up the slack and also keeping the original IP/game/software/hardware alive.

    • @MrJleonp
      @MrJleonp Місяць тому +1

      What does "keeping it alive" mean? It mean you playing it even if the original creator does not want to sell it to you anymore? Why is so important that you continue playing it?

    • @NoahGooder
      @NoahGooder Місяць тому +2

      ​@@MrJleonp
      "keeping it alive" means keeping interest in the game/IP/hardware/software going. And yes this does include if the original crator does not want to sell it or cant sell it.
      "Why is so important that you continue playing it?" there are many answers to this question. Some of them are, "nostalgia, speedrun reasons, digital archival purposes, just the desire to play a game".
      One use case is to provide safe children games such as the entire humongous entertainment collection that dont require internet or any form of IAP.

    • @Maximilian1990
      @Maximilian1990 Місяць тому

      Citra wasn't "caught in the crossfire", Yuzu devs literally gave up on it when their Switch emulator cash cow got shut down.

  • @breakingbald7808
    @breakingbald7808 Місяць тому +8

    I rented a movie on UA-cam. The audio was so low I couldn't even enjoy the movie with everything turned all the way up; so I look to the high seas.

  • @jb678901
    @jb678901 Місяць тому

    All of our TV's are essentially used as monitors, connected to PC's. Even the family room PC is basically a central PC for home entertainment, with Samsung 4K 65 inch as a monitor. Same for audio...streamed via PC to a FiiO BTA30Pro (in DAC mode) or via BT from phone to BTA30Pro (in RX/receiver mode) to a late-1970's Hitachi receiver to speakers.

  • @stevengill1736
    @stevengill1736 Місяць тому

    Again thank you for your efforts trying to clarify these issues.
    This iddea of making everything subscription is a windfall for the corporations and at some point will have to be controlled - it's becoming a rip-off...
    I used to pirate audio, and actually like you tried to repay some artists and couldn't find a way....finally figured best way would be to buy the album and give it to someone.....but your honesty and self-respect is a wonderful model...

  • @keenices1972
    @keenices1972 Місяць тому +17

    29:27 "Louis, you know what i'm gonna be afraid? When people don't wanna pirate my shit anymore."
    This feeling... (tasting noises) it tastes like... (tasting noises) like Battlefield 2042 cheat devs... giving up on it.
    damn how did i remember this it's been 4 years now