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Even if there was an intention to buy it, companies aren't entitled to consumers' money.
Then you’re not entitled to ingest the content being created by that “company” (doesn’t have to be a company, it could be a single artist or a small group of artists).
Taking away licenses is wrong. I’m not disputing that. But that doesn’t magically make stealing something that actual people created right.
Then you’re not entitled to ingest the content being created by that “company” (doesn’t have to be a company, it could be a single artist or a small group of artists).
Are you making an ethical, moral, or legal statement here?
Ownership of intangibles in this context exists only as a means to support a particular political arrangement. I think you may be assuming others here share your politics; there is no objective moral standard for exclusive ownership of intangibles.
By that argument, there is no moral imperative for people to create intangibles as they have no value. If someone creates art that you like, they deserve to be paid for the time and effort it took to create that art whether the art itself is physically tangible or not. If you don’t agree to that premise, then there’s no point in discussing this with you.
there is no moral imperative for people to create intangibles as they have no value.
You're right, there is no moral imperative for people to create (or share) intangibles, but nobody is claiming they have no value.
If someone creates art that you like, they deserve to be paid for the time and effort it took to create that art whether the art itself is physically tangible or not.
Again, is this a ethical, moral, or legal statement? It strikes me as a uniquely ideological statement, but you've not elaborated.
Everyone arguing that it’s not stealing is making the claim that it has no value.
Why does it matter? I would consider it moral and ethical but have no care whether it’s a legal one. I’m not disputing the legality of anything here (since I believe that the subject of the OP is also illegal - “Buying” something denotes ownership and, therefore, taking it away is also stealing).
Additionally, I do not have objections against piracy and think there are many legitimate reasons for it. I am only arguing against the mischaracterization and dishonesty of claiming that it is not stealing.
Everyone arguing that it’s not stealing is making the claim that it has no value.
Are you trying to conflate 'value' with 'extractive market value'? There are lots of things that have innate value but have no or very little market value.
Why does it matter? I would consider it moral and ethical but have no care whether it’s a legal one.
It matters if anyone cares to understand what you're actually asserting, since you've again claimed 'I am only arguing against the mischaracterization and dishonesty of claiming that it is not stealing'. How can anyone understand what you mean without knowing what you take 'stealing' to mean, and why it matters?
Most people here would argue that a system that relies on exclusive ownership of ideas/digitally reproducible data in order to support those who do that labor (that we all benefit from) is one that is broken. In which case 'stealing' would be misplacing both to whom the harm being done and the party doing the harm, because it isn't the fault of the artist or the consumer that the system withholds the means of living from those who are unable to justify their existence through labor.
That's all irrelevant. I'm not making some hypothetical point. Whether you agree with "the system" or not, it is the system within which we live and operate and within which people need to make a living. It doesn't matter whose fault it is. What matters is that someone is being deprived of something by someone who found value in a thing that the person created. If we accept that and attempt to justify as anything other than theft, then those people will cease to create themselves or will have to work further into the system that you're arguing against as they will be unable to sustain themselves by creating things within that system.
If you want people to make more of the things you like, you have to pay them for those things. All the straw man arguments about DRM and corporations that attempt to justify piracy only further reinforce the current system rather than some imagined system.
Stealing has a definition. It means that you're taking something from someone. If you can't understand 'stealing' in its most basic form, then there's no point in having a further discussion with you because you're only pretending not to understand to justify behavior that benefits you.
It doesn’t matter whose fault it is.
'Piracy is stealing' certainly seems to be a statement of fault, doesn't it?
What matters is that someone is being deprived of something by someone who found value in a thing that the person created.
No, that someone is being deprived of something in the first instance by being made to justify their existence through their labor. That someone isn't willing to pay for that labor is only depriving them in the second instance, and there are innumerable examples where essential labor is uncompensated in our market system.
If you want people to make more of the things you like, you have to pay them for those things.
That is not a given. I happen to think that by returning the time that was stolen from us (or some portion thereof) by coercing us into labor, we can all be free to create what we want. Forcing art to abide by the rules of the free market only serves to corrupt it, not enable it to sustain itself.
Stealing has a definition. It means that you’re taking something from someone.
Stealing actually has a bunch of definitions, and most of them depend upon the abstract concept of 'property'.
there’s no point in having a further discussion with you because you’re only pretending not to understand to justify behavior that benefits you.
Finally something we can agree on.
I was saying that it doesn't matter whose fault it is to your assertion that "it's not the creators or the consumers" fault. Piracy does have a person that's at fault and, logically, it's the person getting something for free that is not being offered for free.
I'm not talking about anyone justifying their existence through labor. You're arguing a straw man. I'm stating that creators make something with the intent to get paid for that thing. Their motivation for why they're doing so (whether it's to participate in the system, "justify their existence", personal gratification, or otherwise) is irrelevant to the argument being made. Having numerable instances where people are uncompensated doesn't justify those situations anymore than it justifies this one.
Everything else you said about artists is all well and good and entirely meaningless to the people who can't afford to pay their bills because they have no choice but to live within the market that they do. Of course I'd be happy if we lived in a Star Trekian utopia where money doesn't matter anymore but we don't and pirating content that people make isn't going to change that.
All I'm arguing is that it's dishonest to suggest that piracy is not stealing when the entire proposition of piracy is an entitlement to be able to consume something without paying for it. That is stealing by any stretch of the imagination. Whether you're watching a movie without paying for it, using a website that someone built for you that you didn't pay for, or having sex with a prostitute who you refuse to pay... it's all stealing.
I’m not talking about anyone justifying their existence through labor. You’re arguing a straw man. I’m stating that creators make something with the intent to get paid for that thing. Their motivation for why they’re doing so (whether it’s to participate in the system, 'justify their existence', personal gratification, or otherwise) is irrelevant to the argument being made. Having numerable instances where people are uncompensated doesn’t justify those situations anymore than it justifies this one.
Everything else you said about artists is all well and good and entirely meaningless to the people who can’t afford to pay their bills because they have no choice but to live within the market that they do.
Except it isn't, because you're arguing they deserve to be paid because otherwise they can't afford to pay their bills. You've made it explicitly relevant.
All I’m arguing is that it’s dishonest to suggest that piracy is not stealing when the entire proposition of piracy is an entitlement to be able to consume something without paying for it.
And i'm saying it's dishonest to suggest that piracy is stealing when the entire proposition of digital copyright is an entitlement to be able to extract currency from something that's infinitely reproducible by denying access to it.
That is stealing by any stretch of the imagination. Whether you’re watching a movie without paying for it, using a website that someone built for you that you didn’t pay for, or having sex with a prostitute who you refuse to pay… it’s all stealing.
Where to start with this one....
- 'watching a movie without paying for it': like renting a movie from a library? sharing a dvd with a friend? time and format-shifting a dvd you've bought? plenty of legal examples here that are inconsistent with what you're saying
- 'using a website that someone built for you that you didn’t pay for': this is a weird one, since 'using a website that someone built without paying for it' is exactly how the internet works now..... Unless you mean stiffing a contractor you had an agreement with?
- 'having sex with a prostitute who you refuse to pay': another weird and grotesque example... but I think conceptually the same as the website example? Stiffing a contractor?
- 'That is stealing by any stretch of the imagination': and it is quite a stretch (you've misused this turn-of-phrase)
No, that's not what I'm arguing. I'm arguing that they deserve to be paid because they're asking to be paid for their work rather than giving it away for free. Their reasons for wanting to get paid are irrelevant. They are not offering the product of their labor for free. Full stop. Why they're doing that doesn't matter.
the entire proposition of digital copyright is an entitlement to be able to extract currency from something that's infinitely reproducible by denying access to it.
I'm not talking about copyright, though! Copyright is a legal concept defined by lawmakers. I'm not focusing on the legality of piracy at all. I don't care if it's legal or not and I don't care about the copyright. I'm simply arguing that people create things and expect to get paid for them. They don't create them to give them away for free unless they've explicitly decided to do that.
watching a movie without paying for it': like renting a movie from a library? sharing a dvd with a friend? time and format-shifting a dvd you've bought? plenty of legal examples here that are inconsistent with what you're saying
watching a movie without paying for it': like renting a movie from a library? sharing a dvd with a friend? time and format-shifting a dvd you've bought? plenty of legal examples here that are inconsistent with what you're saying
Libraries have to get permission from creators to carry intangible goods. Libraries do not and cannot just buy media and offer it for consumption without permission, especially for digital media that is intangible. Sharing a DVD with a friend is a tangible good and therefore has physical limitations that intangible media does not so it is not the same. And, again, I'm not arguing about the legal implications of any of this so whether or not other things are legal or not is irrelevant.
'using a website that someone built for you that you didn’t pay for': this is a weird one, since 'using a website that someone built without paying for it' is exactly how the internet works now..... Unless you mean stiffing a contractor you had an agreement with?
Stiffing a contractor is exactly what I mean. The person that created your website. The person that created the intangible good that you seem to be arguing is just fine to copy indefinitely without paying that person for their time (again, unless they've explicitly granted its free use).
'having sex with a prostitute who you refuse to pay': another weird and grotesque example... but I think conceptually the same as the website example? Stiffing a contractor?
Why is that a weird and/or grotesque example? Sex workers are people and provide a service. So, yes...stiffing a contractor.
'That is stealing by any stretch of the imagination': and it is quite a stretch (you've misused this turn-of-phrase)
Ok? I don't think I did but does that really matter? The point still stands whether I used the idiom correctly or not.