this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2025
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Piracy: κœ±α΄€Ιͺʟ α΄›Κœα΄‡ ʜΙͺɒʜ κœ±α΄‡α΄€κœ±

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 days ago (8 children)

I am 100% down for sailing the high seas. But let's not sugarcoat it, this analogy is always been kind of crap.

Somebody went to your mailbox took out your paycheck, made a copy of it, put the original back in your box, went to the bank and cashed it.

Theft still took place. You're probably still getting paid. Maybe it got taken up by insurance and everyone's premium goes up a tiny fraction, maybe it got taken up by the bank or by your business.

It's still an incomplete analogy but it's a little bit closer.

That's not to say that the vast majority of piracy isn't people who wouldn't pay anyway. And back in the day, you certainly got more visibility in your games from people who were pirating.

But now that advertising is on its toes and steam exists, I won't think they're getting any serious benefit from piracy and I don't think that they're not losing At least modest numbers of sales.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 days ago (21 children)

This is a horseshit analogy.

Stealing money from your account is theft, it's not still there afterwards.

The concept I think you might've been looking for is opportunity cost in that pirating deprives an artist of potential sales. Which is a fair point, but it is still not the same as stealing since it does not deprive the artists of their original copy.

It's also all done in the context of a system that is not run by artists and does not primarily benefit artists, but is instead run by and benefits middlemen.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I downloaded a car. I love my Tisla Model C

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 days ago (5 children)

Now make the exact same meme but substitute "AI training" for "piracy" and watch the downvotes flow in.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Well yeah, because my objections to AI aren't based on copyright law.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago (5 children)

The problem is that the producer's business model is based on making and selling copies. You're not taking an original work, no, but you're also not paying for the produced content.

Let's expand the pig analogy.

A farmer has a sow and any piglets that it has are for sale. You steal a piglet. You haven't stolen the original sow, but you have stolen the piglet you now have because you didn't pay for it.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Piglet is still there in the morning though.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

Your example is about physical goods.

Software is at its core just digital information a computer can use.

Knowledge/Information (that is not personal information) should be free.

You can make a argument that software developers still must sell copies of their code to make a living but if you look at the reality of software that appears to simply be some kind of bias. You can make software that is free and still make a living they are just not always related.

The software that runs the world’s infrastructure is increasingly FOSS, from critical cybersecurity to vending machines. Even big corporations are increasingly getting involved in using and making open source components for their proprietary fronts.

As a linux user everything i need can be done legally with free software, not only is it free is most of the times vastly superior then a paid product.

Ever needed software on windows to find the installer got bundled with spyware and then the final program turns out to be a trial before Requiring a subscription? That is only because they need to make money.

On linux, you install it, it’s only the thing you actually need, and it works. No bloat, no enshitification. Some person or group realized there was value to be created, created it and as a result the entire world won collectively.

I have a few products of my own that i hope to publish some day and i already vouched to never make them proprietary, My dad called me insane not to try to profit. I call it nothing but ethical to make the best value for humanity that i can. My very common office job provides enough liveable wage and work/life balance for my family and still find time to do such.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

That analogy doesn't work at all because the Sow produces a finite (and rather small at that) number of piglets over a given timespan.

It's more akin to you getting a piglet/sow elsewhere. Now your piglet/sow need is satisfied and you won't buy anything from this farmer.

(Edit: And even then you took that piglet/sow away somewhere else, reducing supply there, which will make it more likely for this farmer to get a sale in the future.)

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Piracy is making a child share toys with the kid who has none.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Today you can download a car.. And then 3D print it for 'free'.

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