Do you think piracy (the digital kind) is ever justified? Why or why not?

[Dat-Alpha-Lion]

[NamerOfStars]

There is, or used to be, an article on Cracked (from before it went to Hell) about the future of MMORPGs, that contained a very interesting point. The prediction was "Somebody will go to jail for stealing a Bonebiter". I don't remember the exact words, but it was something like:

"Let's say John is a player in World of Warcraft, and has a powerful sword called a Bonebiter, and someone manages to steal it somehow. Should that person be punished in the real world? Did you laugh at that question? Why? John was very fond of that item, and worked for many hours to 'earn' it. He used it every day and derived happiness and satisfaction from it. If you say 'it's just a game', I'd reply that golf is also just a game. What would happen to me if I stole a set of golf clubs? If you say 'it's just data stored in a computer', I'd reply that the same is true of the MP3s people have gone to jail for downloading."

That's taking the point a bit farther, but the idea that a piece of software, which has zero production time (after it's created) and functionally zero replication cost (they're not even distributing discs any more) should have the same restrictions as a physical object is one that I've always found kind of dubious. Then again, just because the costs are all upfront doesn't mean they don't exist, and these things are primarily done to make money.

To answer your question straight-out: yes, at times it definitely is. There's a LOT of media out there that wouldn't exist any more if it weren't for piracy, which plays a vital part in preservation. In the software world, where things don't wear out, like books and clothes and cars, lawyers created the idea that you're not buying a product, but a license to a product, which is a legality that has never seriously been tested in court.

Until now, that is: one aspect- the idea of making games (in particular, but I imagine it would apply to other software) rely on a connection to a central server with NO end-of-life plans, so that whenever the company shuts it down, the game can never be played again. Ubisoft, which is based in France (which has particularly strong consumer protection laws), just killed a game of theirs called "The Crew" in this way, and Ross Scott (the guy who did the Freeman's Mind series before Machinima shut down) is leading an international legal effort to get courts to rule on the issue.

[camerum]

I certainly don't feel guilty about pirating things I've already paid to see.

Movies from the theatre, books I bought physical copies of etc.

I know it's not like for like, and someone's losing money somewhere, but it feels like 95% of the initial cost is for the 'right to consume' and the remaining 5% funds the format underwhich it is delivered