Fighting Piracy A Lost Cause?

AceHBK

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Is this whole war against music, video games and movie piracy a total waste of time? I know everyone has strong feelings about it. What are yours?

Music is available online to download for free.
Movies can be downloaded for free whether it is something new to theatres, copy of a dvd or even now a copy of a blu ray movie.
Video games are available to download and burn and play.

Do you think there will ever be some sort of resolution to all of this or will it continue forever. Are these companies wasting their time trying to stop it?
 

Empty Hands

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Yes, they are wasting their time. Piracy represents a fraction of the total, as most consumers are plenty happy to pay for music/movies/games they actually want. The numbers bear this out. Meanwhile, the RIAA look like ridiculous idiots as they have 80 year old grandmas and 8 year old kids sued for huge damages.
 

Sukerkin

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I have to agree, gentlemen.

The biggest argument that carries water, for me at least, is that the vast majority of pirated apps, games, tunes et al are 'stolen' by those who would either not pay for the goods anyway or could not afford to do so.

This means that the 'piracy' results in no loss of sales and actions to prevent it just serve to piss off those legitimate consumers who have paid for the goods.

I have lost count of the times I've growled between gritted teeth "I've ****ing bought it!!!!" as I've had to battle with difficulties caused by 'protection' systems built into software or at the endless 'nag-verts' on DVD's.
 

Bob Hubbard

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I've stopped buying new music, tend to only buy used dvds, and haven't bought new software in years. I've switched to free alternatives where I can, and make due with older stuff alot of the time. Last time I tried buying some DRM music, it nevr worked and I got no help from the company.
 

Empty Hands

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I have lost count of the times I've growled between gritted teeth "I've ****ing bought it!!!!" as I've had to battle with difficulties caused by 'protection' systems built into software or at the endless 'nag-verts' on DVD's.

Very true! SecuROM, rootkits and other software nonsense have the ability to seriously compromise your computer and your security, and all that after you have legally paid for it. Some software now even limits the number of installs you can perform. Sony and Microsoft are particularly bad violators.
 

jks9199

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I think that, sometime in the next several years, we're going to come to a new idea and approach on how music and videos (and maybe even books) are sold. I don't know if we'll slide back to an era where the idea of owning a song or other performance was kind of strange, because there was no medium to record the performance -- or come up with some sort of purchase of use rights... But it's a problem that's been growing. Especially when you consider that manufacturing costs on a CD or DVD today are probably only a few bucks (I'm not including the actual costs of creating the performance here).

I kind of think that someday soon, we won't be buying a hard CD. If you go to a music store, it'll only be as a convenience. You'll either buy a preloaded thumbdrive/flashdrive or you'll plug your own or your MP3 player or whatever into a gadget, and the song'll be downloaded.

I think, as more artists realize what's going on, you'll see the emphasis on paying them for the performance directly, rather than going through a record company. Maybe even just for "real" performances, not studio perfected, shaped and modified songs. We've got top performers today who can't really perform their music onstage... because their sound is really created in the studio and editing room. Something not quite right there...
 

zeeberex

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Yes, they are wasting their time. Piracy represents a fraction of the total, as most consumers are plenty happy to pay for music/movies/games they actually want. The numbers bear this out. Meanwhile, the RIAA look like ridiculous idiots as they have 80 year old grandmas and 8 year old kids sued for huge damages.


bingo.... in a nutshell
 

zeeberex

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I've stopped buying new music, tend to only buy used dvds, and haven't bought new software in years. I've switched to free alternatives where I can, and make due with older stuff alot of the time. Last time I tried buying some DRM music, it nevr worked and I got no help from the company.


I will only buy directly from the artist, leads to finding some interesting music
 

Gordon Nore

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I think the use of the word, piracy, for what amounts to digital shoplifting may be part of the problem. I'm sure the music, video and gaming industries resent the loss of product and revenue, and I don't blame them. I think it's less immoral to steal from a large corporation than to steal from a starving family. I think there's some pride at stake here: major retail outlets use personnel and technology to make simple acts of theft extremely difficult; however, on the Internet, they highly vulnerable.
 

Cryozombie

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Here's a clue to my mindset... Next year I'm shooting my first feature length film. I have every intention of selling my movie when I produce it, and zero intention of prosecuting people who rent my DVDs and Copy them. If I make money and get rich, YAY! But if I only get people to watch what I make and enjoy it, I'd be rather happy.

If they can legally record them from Cable, why can't they legally copy my movies on DVD? The laws are all *** backwards and make no sense.

If I rent a DVD and copy it, I broke the Law.
If I rent a Pay-per-Veiw movie and copy it, I'm within my rights.

If I Download a song from Limewire, I broke the law,
If I Record the song from Live365 I'm within my rights.

*scratches head*
 

Sukerkin

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An interesting perspective, Cryo. I admit that I thought that 'taping' either music or TV had always been illegal but it was just un-enforceable i.e. it was law that everyone 'winked at'.

Now in the digital age, those holding the (excessively protracted) copyright, can track and control some of their product; so they do.
 

Cryozombie

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An interesting perspective, Cryo. I admit that I thought that 'taping' either music or TV had always been illegal but it was just un-enforceable i.e. it was law that everyone 'winked at'.

Not really here. It's been a while since I looked the laws on this up... RIAA/MPAA could have gotten it changed recently, but the laws stated that if it was being broadcast into your home, you were allowed to make a recording of it for personal use. They used to even run a little PSA about it being ok on Cable.
 

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