‘Good’ Pirates Help Companies Sell More Products
Written by enigmax on March 24, 2008If you are downloading stuff you wouldn’t have bought in the first place, according to economist Karen Croxson, you are probably doing the company that created the product a big favor. You, Mr ‘Good’ Pirate, are telling your friends, adding to the media ‘buzz’ and driving up sales.
Imagine a situation in the future where Internet pirates are accepted - maybe even recruited - to replace expensive marketing and consumer awareness teams when bringing a product to market. Imagine the reward for the pirate was a free copy of the software/media he agrees to promote. According to an economist, it could be happening right now.
In her talk at the Annual Conference of the Royal Economic Society, Oxford economist Karen Croxson says that when people copy software, music and movies, it may actually help the producer.
“Digital piracy has been claimed to endanger whole industries” said Ms Croxson. “A natural question to ask is: Why do some companies develop water-tight technology to safeguard their intellectual property when others appear more relaxed about copying?”
Many pirates say that they would never have bought much of the stuff they downloaded or copied. If you fall into this category, you might be a ‘good’ or ‘promotional’ pirate. Croxson says that piracy is only a threat to sales when people who originally intended to buy, didn’t, and pirated instead. The others - of which there a many, many millions - never intended to buy and these, says Croxson, cannot possibly harm the seller.
Far from the “all pirates are evil” cry, these pirates tell their friends, and they tell their friends and so the priceless product ‘buzz’ is generated. This consumer ‘buzz’ is difficult to put a price on, but needless to say it’s very valuable indeed. Even if companies ‘paid’ a pirate with a free copy of their product in exchange for him spreading the word about the product, it’s still a fantastic deal - especially if these ‘promotional’ pirates weren’t going to buy the product in the first instance.
Also considered by Croxson are the reasons why people are tempted to copy something, which include value put on time, concerns about being caught and moral issues. Using these and other factors enables Croxson to discover piracy’s true threat to sales of a product and suggest the best responses.
Due to computer games being most popular in the youth market, they are heavily protected. Although young people place a lot of value on games, they have fewer fears when it comes to copying and have more time than most to do so. It’s suggested that this could be ‘bad’ piracy, in that these activities negatively affect sales, without the ‘promotional’ benefits.
On the other hand, business software companies put a lot less effort into anti-piracy measures. It’s suggested that people who use software in the course of their business place higher value on it, have less time to pirate and worry more about the legal aspects, so are less likely to pirate.
Croxson said: ‘With valuable users shying away from copying, the sellers in the business software market find themselves more naturally insulated against lost sales. Those more inclined to pirate, perhaps students, probably wouldn’t have bought the product anyway, so represent virtually free promotion. This helps explain why business software companies do not put as many resources into protection as computer games manufacturers.”
“Building a theoretical model of `promotional piracy’,” says Croxson, “it is possible to distinguish markets that are best advised to put considerable resource into safeguarding their products from others which may live quite comfortably with a higher incidence of digital piracy.”
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73 Responses
It’s nice to see there are well educated and open minded people speaking out
lol yea right. if i were so excited about an app to tell my friends i would just link them to the torrent. nobody would buy it.
@2:
lol, damn right! :D
Hell yeah! Piracy FTW
I see things like this quite often; i got the newest Office and gave it to my dad, he in turn told a few of his colleagues how great it was, who in turn bought the app.. Im a Good pirate :D
this article makes me feel bad,really bad, i only download stuff i WANT to use,movies i WANT to watch,books i WANT to read,for free,
how many of u would be stupid enough to waste your time,disk space and bandwidth on something u don want ?
any one ?
besides,due to my lifelong exposure to “promotional/adverts radiation” i’ve became immune to any kind of promo/adds thet didnt pays me…
i’m a bad,bad pirate….
@6
its not about downloading stuff you dont want. It’s about downloading stuff you wouldn’t have bought if you had to pay for it and thereby giving the thing you downloaded more exposure…which is good for the producers of it.
- read the article
I have thousands of dollars worth of pirated s/w, music and movies on my computer.
The % of movies I would have bought if I couldn’t have d/l them for free, is ZERO.
The % of music I would have bought if I couldn’t have d/l it for free, is maybe one half of 1%.
The % of s/w I would have bought if I couldn’t have d/l it for free, is less than 5%.
I believe this is pretty typical. I don’t lose any sleep over this and it has been a net plus to my life, and I think a net gain to society as well. The net loss to the media companies is hardly worth mentioning, especially considering the points made in this article.
In the future, all this piracy stuff will be seen about the same way as the battle over trying to stop the proliferation of VCRs was back in the ’80s. It was a counter productive move for the media industry and wasted their time, money, and energy.
Quote from the movie “Chinatown:” “If you can’t bring the water to the city, then bring the city to the water.”
And this from somewhere: “If you can’t lick ‘em, then join ‘em.”
Greed is NOT good; its stupid.
It’s good to see a respected academic espousing views that have been long held by pirates worlwide. The view that most pirates would not have paid for the pirated material in the first place is not a new one. However, industry lobby groups have often counted pirated material as lost sales, which they are certainly not. realistically, not many people are going to pay a high price for a piece of software that they are only using casually.
Also, this type of advertising has been having an impact on sales for quite some time. For an example, look at “The Man From Earth”, which would have likely gone no where if not for internet piracy. There is no doubt that piracy helps hollywood, which has been setting sales records for years despite rampant movie downloads. There is no comparing the theatre experience to even a home viewing of a DVD9. I also agree that the video game market is the only one hurt by piracy, since a copied game is virtually identical and is a replacement for a sale.
So, despite what any individual may want to believe, piracy is doing more to help these companies than hurt them. All piracy is good piracy. There will always be people who demand a higher standard when it comes to their media and will purchase the product, which they may have heard about through a friend who pirated a copy.
Bout Time Pirates Got Respected By Law Lol
@7,….
that’s why i said i’m a bad pirate….
when there’s stuff i want, i:
a]borrow from my fren,in physical form
if they have it
b]see if it’s available on line for free,direct download or p2p.
c]when all else fails,i buy it…
stuff that i didnt want-wont fecth it even if it’s delivered to my front door,…and i hardly ever hit option [c].
and yes, i read the article,fact is,ppl download stuff they dont want to pay,when it’s available for free,those who wants to pay in the 1st place would be tempted to get it for free,also,which maybe generate alot of hype.but then,whenever my “friend” tell me bout somting “cool”,i’id ask for a copy…..
i didnt see how it[generated hype/exposure] can be good for the producers,just take manhunt 2 for example….
This is nothing new to me. If it wasn’t possible to “pirate” Microsoft products would Microsoft be that big today. Don’t think so.
@7,11
manhunt 2 is finally coming out in the uk and with all the controversy surrounding it will assure that it will no doubt do very well for a game that is apparently pretty poor and was designed for a last generation console. That is the value of exposure. “all news is good news” and that idea applies to piracy not just crappy celebrities.
People download stuff because they have the option to do it for free. I wouldnt have discovered hundreds of the brilliant artists i’ve got in my music collection if it hadnt been for p2p. And i wouldnt have been to half the gigs id been to either for that matter.
As Karen Croxsen said “piracy is only a threat to sales when people who originally intended to buy, didn’t, and pirated instead”. From what you are saying, it sounds like you don’t buy very much of your media so from what this article is about you wouldnt be deemed a “bad pirate”.
Just a confused one…
Where do I signup for alpha-testing?
Indeed, nice to hear that some non-pirates view things the same way us pirates do, gives a little weight to our argument.
As to the “those who’d buy won’t buy ’cause they can get it for free” thought - there will always be those who buy. Be it because they’re using it commercially or because they need the support/extras that come with paid versions. But pirating might make the difference which product exactly gets bought.
[quote comment="317922"]@7,11
As Karen Croxsen said “piracy is only a threat to sales when people who originally intended to buy, didn’t, and pirated instead”. From what you are saying, it sounds like you don’t buy very much of your media so from what this article is about you wouldnt be deemed a “bad pirate”.
Just a confused one…[/quote]
binsy,…binsy…
the reason i didnt buy most of my media as u call it is b’cos i hav the ablity to get it for free,and when i got it for free,i wont be making any purchases anymore,which translated into loss of sales. the main reason i didnt “intend to buy” is solely b’cos i can get it elsewhere,…without internet,i might be “forced” to buy it,and the threat she mentioned will greatly be reduced with the demise of p2p…..
and unlike others who lives in self-denial,or self-delusion,i admit that i’m stealing copyrighted material by downloading and using/watching them without paying a single cent/penny,…and i kno it’s wrong,and copywrong felt gooood,….really gooooood.and i’m far from being confused.
I have lots of fileshared music and movies, none of it pirated however….LMAO
@ ace hall
Are you sure, that in case you couldn’t pirate you wouldn’t look for *free* alternatives? If you would then your current actions still don’t neccessarily count for loss of sales, but more in the lines of ‘potential loss’. Which, despite what BSA&MPAA&friends are saying, ain’t the same thing ;)
Hell, this has been true for years. Most of the music I listened to since I got the internet has been downloaded, and without that ability, I would have never gone to the 20-some odd concerts I have, and I would have not taken the people that I did, and expose them to the bands that I thought they’d like.
Word of mouth is always the best marketing, if your product is GOOD. That’s always the catch, and the industries always seem to forget that.
[quote comment="317879"]this article makes me feel bad,really bad, i only download stuff i WANT to use,movies i WANT to watch,books i WANT to read,for free,
how many of u would be stupid enough to waste your time,disk space and bandwidth on something u don want ?
any one ?
besides,due to my lifelong exposure to “promotional/adverts radiation” i’ve became immune to any kind of promo/adds thet didnt pays me…
i’m a bad,bad pirate….[/quote]
meh i was going to awnser this but i cbf… lol
About half of the concerts, gigs, and festivals I attend (which is quite a number) I would not be shelling out my well earned currency for had I not downloaded their albums first to listen to them in full, without restriction. This is how I grow to like music artists, and why I will buy tickets.
And I don’t really feel bad either, an artist will get next to nothing for a record sale, and a lot more from my buying a ticket to their event. And I wouldn’t be able to afford such tickets if I were paying for albums in the first place, anyway.
I’m not gonna lie, I mostly download album and film cuz i’m broke and can’t buy all the stuff that i want.
I would have bought some album if i had more money.
#2 you are the people that bring down the p2p community you are the ones everyone doesn’t like plus the fact that you can only link your “friends” to the torrent shows you don’t actually interact with them physically which intern shows your an anti social person who needs to “get a life” i and many others however do have physical people we interact with i could be considered in both pools (games and business) i personally do not have a lot of money to spend on all the Halo games or G.T.A games so admittedly i would probably pirate them if they were any good most of the time i would buy them but when i do not i certainly talk to other people about them if something you have used (or something you have made) is good and others like it you should deserve the publicity without pirating i would have never known some of these games exist
Games: I won´t buy a game, that I haven´t tested. Spend 50 Euros just find out the game sucks? No thanks.
Great games, that I actually play, I buy.
Same goes for movies, hell, I got a bunch of movies on DVD, which I never would´ve even heard of, if not for p2p.
Anyways, I guess there´s all kind of pirates…, aye? ;)
I like it then I buy it but first at all I have to try it. Only games and apps what I buy is that what I cant get else where or they are not playable (network game).
Comment #23 is very close what think but Halo (great game) is too power hungry so I tried pirated version and find out that first I have to buy new hardware… lucky Parrot, arrr.
I believe there is great truth to this article.
Several months ago I downloaded an mp3 pack that included a few Michael Buble songs. I wasn’t a huge fan but I figured my mother would enjoy his music so I burnt her a disk to play when entertaining.
She fell in love with the music and while she recieves it for free, I know for a fact at least a dozen of her friends have purchased several of his albums, especially his Christmas album.
This is a perfect example of how I pirated something that I never would have purchased, or even knew existed, but inadvertently advertised for several hundred dollars in sales.
No such thing as “good pirates”!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
[quote comment="317870"]lol yea right. if i were so excited about an app to tell my friends i would just link them to the torrent. nobody would buy it.[/quote]
I’ve never bought a copy of Nero, but since I’m in IT everyone asks me what I use to burn stuff. I tell them “Nero” and they go out and Buy “Nero Ultimate: Hyper Expensive Pack” the next day. I’ve probably sold 50 copies for them. I figure we’re even.
I’ll recommend software to anyone. I won’t offer pirated stuff to anyone who I’m not absolutely sure is going to just go find a pirated version of whatever I recommended anyway, I sure as hell will not install any pirated stuff on anyone else’s computer, and I will actively discourage the use of pirated software on any sort of business machine.
I also still purchase DVDs, CDs and games even though they may be available as a .torrent. And it is unlikely that I would have purchased 99% of the stuff I have P2P’d, found on Usenet or Rapidshare over the years. As far as CDs go though Canadian Law has reinforced my legal right to download to my hearts content, as long as I pay the tax on the media. Eat that CIRA, RIAA, etc. Demonid is a chickshit that should have stood up to the CIRA and taken .torrent hosting to Supreme Court to set precedent for all .torrent sites.
Arrrrr! Ramming Speed, aye Captain!
[quote comment="317998"]No such thing as “good pirates”!
[/quote]
True, they’re just good. btw why do u keep advertising your crap?
I’ve never understood the shareware concept. They give you a product and challenge you to defeat its limitations by use of a simple serial or patch, and when you take control of your own PC which they interfere with they call it theft. Since when is it illegal to make changes on your own PC? If they don’t want you to do that then don’t give it in the first place.
I agree with the article and I too don’t lose sleep over the fact that there may be something I would’ve bought if I could afford it, but downloaded instead. If they didn’t try so hard to protect it, bloating the code and inflating the cost, I probably wouldn’t give it much attention. Those of us with no work and who maybe don’t use credit cards either, should have some concessions, since there are so very few in other areas. We still have the same bills to pay as everyone else and can’t afford greedy jacked up prices, and why should we have to miss out on life? Price stuff reasonably and fairly and even the poor may start buying more.
I’ve done my part in promoting good rare media, and people end up buying it after scouring the world, as they can’t find it online anymore, and they’re too proud to ask for a copy.
Well I just composed a thoughtful and well-mannered response and TF has refused to post it. Thanks a lot!
[quote comment="317952"]@ ace hall
Are you sure, that in case you couldn’t pirate you wouldn’t look for *free* alternatives? If you would then your current actions still don’t neccessarily count for loss of sales, but more in the lines of ‘potential loss’. Which, despite what BSA&MPAA&friends are saying, ain’t the same thing
;)[/quote]
any act[s] of obtaining copyrighted material for free *is* piracy..as defined by law and EULA…..in almost every country…..altho,enforced differently…..
[quote comment="317951"]I have lots of fileshared music and movies, none of it pirated however….LMAO[/quote]
oh really,mind to list them here so that we can “share” them ?
and if u all read my post carefully,u’ll see that i never mention any thing about pirating music,due to the fact that most of them are just noise….in fact,i think i deserved to b compensated every time i’m exposed to musics i dont like every time i’m out there in the mall,cafe,cineme,…etc…
and i’m honestly surprised there’s actually some1[individual,not bizneses] out there that would buy something that’s available for free. would u pay for air when u can get it for free ? all i kno is that ppl pay for air only when they couldnt get it for free like under water/on moon(paid by nasa)/burning building(by fire department) or stuff like that.
oh,btw,how many of u have downloaded the leaked version of manhunt 2,and intend to buy the official censored version ?
i have always been and a strong supporter of R*,but not strong enough save enough $$$ to buy a legit copy,…..hmmm
[quote comment="317922"]@7,11
manhunt 2 is finally coming out in the uk and with all the controversy surrounding it will assure that it will no doubt do very well for a game that is apparently pretty poor and was designed for a last generation console. That is the value of exposure. “all news is good news” and that idea applies to piracy not just crappy celebrities.
[/quote]
…and despite what Binsy said,manhunt 2 is a great game(for almost a month)and there’s still at least a year or two of glory in good old ps2,until granturismo6 came out.
gt5 will most likely ended-up like gt1 and gt3,over rushed and under developed,premature-ly realeased……until gt6 came out,i wont buy ps3,…
Here’s a thought. It may have been covered I only skimmed the responses. The record/film industry could always use us pirates as their screener audience. No doubt about it that word of mouth advertising is the best you can buy, and I know half of us have a blog with about 200+ MySpace or FaceBook friends that will read it and take it to heart. And if they’re too worried about giving away the full product, DON’T! Look, I buy most of the stuff that I download. The only real requirement being that it’s affordable and worth my hard earned dollar. So, cut some of the songs in half, I’m OK with that. Give me a movie with a timestamp on it, I’m all for it. It’s not like it’s going to look great on my high def TV anyway. And if I/we don’t buy it, and you don’t make a profit. Here’s a clue, STOP MAKING THE SAME SHIT OVER AND OVER AGAIN AND GIVE US SOMETHING WORTH BUYING! Needless to say, I’m bitter towards the entertainment industry. I’m tired of being treated like a criminal while they stick their grubby hands in my pockets. RAID ON MATES!!
Best example I can think of is Photoshop. With a retail of $650-$1000, few “regular” computer users would have it installed, and yet “photoshopping” something has become a part of both the internet and non-internet vernacular. Obviously having their product associated with the very act of image editing is good publicity, doubt anyone goes to purchase their competing software without at least first considering adobe’s offering…
The Only Reason Windows Is Still exists on My PC = Pirates
The Only Reason My Friends Use Windows = Pirates
Our School Uses Pirated XP ..
Again , Thanx to Pirates.
[quote comment="318060"]Best example I can think of is Photoshop. With a retail of $650-$1000, few “regular” computer users would have it installed, and yet “photoshopping” something has become a part of both the internet and non-internet vernacular. Obviously having their product associated with the very act of image editing is good publicity, doubt anyone goes to purchase their competing software without at least first considering adobe’s offering…[/quote]
Same Here.. Who Will Buy It for $1000+ ?
This is actually Microsofts strategy, they just can’t go out in public with it…
anyone noticed that its symptomatic how on most such articles on torrentfreak you have few spammers who spam the comments with: “i am pirate, i can get it for free, fuck artist, fuck all, i will never buy it”… who can that be?
#23,#33, thank you for your well put thoughts.
almost nothing to add, except one thing, but only because that is strictly my example, and its bothering me last few months. new pink floy box-set has come out. and also wanted to add to that “Pulse”. it costs about third of my month paycheck.
couldnt care less, i am “die for” fan, and its worth that money for me. but what is the problem, i have 30+ GB of pink floyd stuff on my computer and burned dvd’s. if i give all that money because im a fan, will that money be used to hunt me down and sue me?
All pirates are good, copyright and intellectual property are evil..
hetfield (metallica) and flea(chilli peppers) are two musicians who have lost my respect.
piracy is not committed solely by people looking to fuck you over.
i have never sold a CD in my life.
and these cock smokers come out and say its stealin and have a moan and a bitch and a cry for themselves.
wipe your eyes on a million dollar towel ye cunts.
i have went to every irish gig they had since 1990,and if i want to download ‘http://thepiratebay.org/search/rhcp%20live%20slane/0/99/0′ this for instance, i will.
*yawn* Ask any intelligent file sharer and they would have told these people the exact same thing a long, long time ago. Keep up academia, you’re falling behind.
Heres my favourite quote from the last month: some wise words from Matt Mason…
“Thomas Edison invented the phongraphic record player, musicians branded him a pirate out to steal their work and destroy the live music business - until a system was established so everyone could be paid royalties, and the record industry was born. Edison, in turn, went on to film making and demanded a licensing fee from those making movies with his technology. This caused a band of film making pirates, including a man named William, to flee New York for the then still Wild West; where they thrived unlicensed, until Edison’s patents expired. These pirates continue to operate there, albeit legally now, in the town they founded: Hollywood.
William’s last name? Fox.”
ohh the irony…
What the woman is saying is that unless you could get it for free, you wouldn’t have gotten it, but since you’re able to get it for free, you get it.
Then you try it, and recommend it to someone else, and somewhere in there, someone pays for it. They make money on that. That’s what they meant.
I am a good pirate. If I couldn’t download things for free, I would use nothing instead.
The fact is that video games are fun and software is useful but not so much that I would ever dip into my money reserves to purchase it.
How do pirates help companies?
By being the victims of lawsuits so the record companies can sue the hell out of pirates to make up for low album sales.
…so back in 1999, I bought a hardback copy of ‘The Phantom Menace’ novel from my local bookstore (prior to the movies release).
I then took a friend to see the movie in my local cinema.
Then I bought loads of the official toys, posters and books that came out.
People asked me what I thought of the movie and based on my review they saw the movie.
The VHS tapes were releases (in widescreen and pan & scan) so I bought a copy of each.
I even bought it on VCD (import).
The movie was not released on laserdisc so I bought it on DVD.
I also supported the movie by buying many products with its name attached (Pepsi, etc).
Also bought games for PSX, N-64 & PC.
Taking all that in to account…IF I had watched a ‘pirate’ copy of the movie prior to it’s UK release, how would I have ‘damaged’ the film industry? How EXACTLY would I have swindled Mr Lucas?
And that’s just one example…don’t get me started on Highlander…
Well, I think this approach to the situation is right, however, i must admit that this is not the only truthfull explonation of piracy. I download series from the internet via bittorrent just because of I have got no possibility to buy it on DVD in English (I live in Russia). Moreover, almost every disk in our stores is illegal and costs from 35 to 100 rubles (that is from 1.4$ to 4$) no mater what the content is and whether it is CD or DVD. Frankly, I have forgotten the last time I bought a CD or DVD in store.
ALOT of use pirates just don’t have the money to buy anything we download.
So there was never any money to be earned by the people who made the material.
Also, the music industry is helped the most by piracy. Especially the up and coming bands. The internet has allowed for people to share a bands music all over the world. Giving it tons of media exposure. Which leads to more sales and more chances of doing concerts. Which is where most of a bands money comes from.
This is a Great article. Hope MAFIAA takes notice. I don’t agree with it may actually help the producer from the 2nd paragraph. It should read as it helps the producer(s)
Still, these sort of excellent articles are what make us return each and every day to ur site.
U ROCKKKKKKKKKKK!!!:)
If there’s stuff I want, I:
1) d/l it from a public tracker (if it’s available)
2) d/l it from a private tracker
3) if all of the above fails I just live w/o it (this happens very rarely though).
:-)
Yes, for example Correct piracy in India casued them to know abt gaming and now their is a shift slowly form piracy to orignal although games dont sell well here but consoles and GPUs are selling like hell this is the proof of future base of development.
Also I had complained abt few greymarketers of town to Sony (they mainly pirated PS2 so no MS), but instead they were offered to keep orignals and they keep origanls of PS3 which sell although less but sell and also this things goes for 360 its games are also selling atleast much better than Xbox 1, althought it has stronger channel on account of being hacked so it(360) sells more than former.
People will say that company are loosing but see another part if their was no piracy here their would have been no popularity in games here.
“This helps explain why business software companies do not put as many resources into protection as computer games manufacturers.”
Or is it the fact that any US company caught using pirated software will be choked with crippling penalties?
#36 - As far as Photoshop goes, I read somewhere that Adobe’s stand is that the average geek, sitting in his basement and putting fake boobs on Britney Spears’ pictures, aren’t enough of a problem to even worry about as they would never have bought the product, anyway. What Adobe is concerned about is the production houses that purchase 1 copy and install it on a hundred systems - that’s a ton of lost revenue, especially considering that the production houses are making money, themselves, off of the use of the product.
#40 - In a documentary on VH1, Lars Ulrich said, “I don’t care if people download our music, I just don’t want them to download it before the album even comes out”. Their complaint was that songs from St. Anger were available from p2p sources long before the album was ready - some of which were early, incomplete versions that, they felt, gave consumers a bad example of what their new music sounded like.
I went out and bought St.Anger when it first came out and was severely disappointed with it. I wish I had downloaded it, first, because I definitely wouldn’t have paid real money for it, had I known how bad the production was on it.
As far as “good pirates” vs “bad pirates” goes, I beleive we all fall into the grey area (somewhere in between). I do get stuff that I actually want but I also get stuff that I may not have paid any attention to (much less paid any money for) and have reccomended some things to people that they’d never heard of but ended up liking.
I agree whole heartedly on this topic, but the logic may be a bit flawed. Sure, people who wouldn’t buy the product anyway go and pirate.. but what if they couldn’t pirate? If they were of a younger group, would they save up their money for weeks, or even months to eventually buy it? I’d say the “good pirate” theory at least works with music, because it’s such a viral medium. When you play a good tune, everyone notices and they want to go get it themselves.. it doesn’t always work that way with movies/applications.
Let’s show these companies there is at least a difference between good and bad piracy.
The point made about a person illegally downloading software etc… probably wouldn’t have paid for it in the first place is a valid one. Creating a buzz about the product is also a valid one. But here’s the thing, it’s still illegal.
Just because they don’t want to pay for it and companies aren’t really missing out on revenue because of the theft doesn’t make it acceptable. Theft is theft no matter how you put a spin on it.
Whatever next? Car thief writes review of the last Ferrari they stole and sales rocket…thanks car thief please carry on.
Is this academic actually aware that certain record labels routinely leak promo copies via P2P? The RIAA is trying to stop file-sharing, but many of its members actively use it precisely to increase sales. It’s kind of ironic that the record labels send out free copies of promos, but expect the plebian consumers to pay for them.
Join GNAA.US for some black cock
@9
While I agree with with most of what you said, the amount of piracy is still losing some companies sales… though this is mainly in 3rd world countries and the fact of the matter is that this is because they don’t actually sell legal products there in the first place….
and about games, the main thing costing them sales is the fact that users are terrified that their game will INFECT their computer and break it… and that pirates get a SUPERIOR product to what the consumers get… the protections are causing most of the piracy in the video game market…
[quote comment="318443"]Whatever next? Car thief writes review of the last Ferrari they stole and sales rocket…thanks car thief please carry on.[/quote]
While your point probably has some validity in it, comparing intellectual property theft with physical theft is always sketchy. The software pirate who wouldn’t have paid literally costs the software company _nothing_, obviously the car thief deprived it’s owner of a $100+K car. Always a difference between theft and copying…
Doing PC tech work for small businesses and home users, I’ve recommended ALOT of software to customers that I haven’t paid for myself. I wish software companies had referral programs.
[quote comment="318443"]But here’s the thing, it’s still illegal.[/quote]
What’s your point? That people should obey a law no matter how silly it is, and no matter how victimless an instance of breaking that law is?
You’re a pitiful stooge.
[quote comment="318443"]
Theft is theft no matter how you put a spin on it.[/quote]
Correct. Theft is theft no matter how you spin it, so why don’t you fuck off and take your spin with you?
If I snap my fingers and instantly conjur up a 1:1 duplicate of your Ferrari, and then drive off in said duplicate, you’re going to have one Hell of a time trying to figure out how that qualifies as THEFT, especially when I would have never in my life bought a Ferrari anyway, whether or not I had the magicial power to duplicate one.
[quote comment="318443"]Theft is theft [/quote]
Undoubtedly. Only filesharing isn’t theft because the author still has the original of whatever is being distributed via FS.
Try and sue me for somehow making an identical copy of your Ferrari (while you still have your car and I’ve never even touched it). I wish you luck. :-)
Provided you do not encourage piracy, this is entirely true.
If you are the first of your “group of contacts/friends” to get your hands on a latest release game, just because someone told you it was cool ( and you wouldn’t have bought it anyway. ) You may end up telling your friends how cool it is.
If you didn’t intend on buying it in the first place, you may have never found out how ‘cool’ it was, and therefore that’s you not telling anyone else, and potentially lost sales for the company.
This in no way justifies the act of Piracy, however, it just points out the industries aren’t going into decline because of piracy, it’s rather a natural equilibrium.
If you’re going to annoy consumers with high-tech anti-piracy technologies ( which never work ) at least put the price down on the game to compensate. ( which contradicts the fact that the technology costs the company more. )
There’s a point where you look at a price, and you say well I could get 5 other not-so-hyped-up games for the same price, and simply being so expensive drives you to pirate it.
Games should start out cheaper, and reduce in price less. ( So the game doesn’t just sell when it becomes cheap. )
Pireacy Is Not That Much a Crime
Read On
http://pluking.blogspot.com
“Theft is theft”. True, but in relation to filesharing you fail to show why you label it so. You most likely use the specious argument that it deprives artists and retailers of sales. Since it has often been stated (yes without proof) that most who download wouldn’t have bought even if they couldn’t dl, then you have no leg to stand on, but are only a lying thieving hypocrite.
The bottom line as a student is pirate until I’m able to afford the product. If a company doesn’t have a continual release of updates that temporarily disables the product and if it is valuable even with similar alternatives, I feel loyal to that brand and when I have the ability to legally obtain a version of the software I will.
An addendum, I would be more likely to shell out for a product if that license included any future versions of that product. Also said, if I bought a product when it was new and they release a newer version, it feels less morally reprehensable to pirate the newer copy.
GG
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