Basically: should i care about ethics?
When it comes to music I try to buy the stuff I like (mostly flacs) on bandcamp Fridays (certain days of the year where bandcamp charges 0% fees from the creators).
If it’s indie/small/mid-sized creator I’d like to see more of. They also sell vinyl and other merch which is rly cool
Whatever you want. Copyright was literally invented to steal from creators anyway.
Everything.
Like, i pay screenwriters by bringing them lunch while they collect cans around town and actors by tipping on lunch, but you, by paying at a movie theatre, generally do not.
- If X was not available to pirate, would you pay for it?
- If you would not have paid for X, does pirating X cause any actual loss to its owner? If you would not have paid for it either way (even if that were the only option) and you haven’t caused them a loss of revenue by pirating it, did you impact the creator at all?
The counter to this is always that just because someone wouldn’t pay doesn’t mean the creator’s work has no value. To that I would yes that is completely true. The creator’s work has value, but maybe not monetary value. You can’t always conflate value to money (ex. FOSS, canonical sci-fi lore, protest symbols, etc).
There is also a morality component used against my argument that would say I’m ignoring the intent, consent, and ownership the creator has. Its usually worded that I’m using outcome-based morality and that the ends always justifies the means by that logic. But I pay for X, not for access to use X. If the creator can opt without my consent to remove X from me, I’m not longer obligated to follow that moral constraint. Morality is a two-way street.
That’s a very ambiguous and loaded question.
yeah its unethical to give corporations money and should be avoided whenever possible
You should only feel bad about pirating art made by small independent artists, and even then only if you don’t have the disposable income to easily afford it.
Piracy is an actually victimless crime, you aren’t depriving anyone of anything except your hypothetical dollars. And that’s only a loss if you were going to spend them in the first place. Then add the fact that selling digital goods at all is basically a massive scam…
Also, in many cases it’s actually better for the artist to donate directly to them than to buy their products from a store that’s probably taking a cut.
You’ve conflated laws and ethics. Does piracy violate some laws in some jurisdictions? Unquestionably. Is every single law ethical? Unlikely.
As I’ve made more money in life, I pirate the same amount of stuff, basically (besides games). But I also spend a shitload of money on the stuff I like. Instead of paying Netflix or Spotify, I buy DVD/BD box sets, collector’s editions, vinyl, bandcamp my favorite albums, and way too many concert tickets. Avoid the middleman and support the creator.
besides games
Yeah, same here. I haven’t pirated games since I was a broke university student. There’s simply no need to when digital storefronts make it easy to get the games I want in the format I want. Some even offer DRM-free offline backups, or in the case of Steam the games stay in my library even if the publisher decides to remove the title from the Steam storefront.
TV and movies are completely different from this, and so much worse. So many different streaming services, some with intrusive ads, and every one wanting their own monthly subscription. I shouldn’t need to search “where is X streaming.” Ever. Titles disappear from these services all the time. Even if you “buy” a digital movie or show, the rights holder can yank it back from you because… reasons?
TV and movie distribution is such a garbage deal for consumers that open source developers have created a complete software stack (the servarr stack) to automate the process of finding and downloading media. Once you get it set up, it’s about million times more convenient than corporate streaming services.
TL;DR: Getting digital games is easy and feels like a fair deal for the average consumer. Getting movies and TV shows is a pain in the ass and feels like an absolute shit deal for the consumer. I’ll continue to pirate movies and TV shows because as Gabe Newell famously argued, piracy indicates a service problem.
Basically: should i care about
ethicscapitalist ideology?No.
The system is literally genociding people, destroying the planet, etc. It’s a major mistake to take their “ethics” seriously. It’s just another grift. Enjoy the natural freedom of information while you still can.
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IMO if you cannot get it in a format that’s appropriate it’s warranted.
For example ebooks that only come with drm so you can’t add it as an epub to your ereader.
I usually buy the book and then acquire the epub
When society does I think its valid to. So right now - everything if you want. If we get back to wealth disparity levels from 50 years along with decent rights and working democracy. Then maybe tighten the ship. Certainly at the least money and corps need to be out of our democracy.
No. Take what you like and burn the rest.
Ask yourself: what would an evil, monopolistic megacorporation that owns all this IP do in my position?
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
Facebook is willing to torrent, must be okay.
Freely pirate everything without guilt. If you use torrent then seed how much you can. It will help your fellow human beings.
BUT if/when you have money to spare invest them into creators/art that bring you something. It seems antithetical because they taught us real art should be free from capitalism’s shackles yadda yadda, but art and artists needs money to flourish. Find indie artists and wacky projects and fund them.
BUT if/when you have money to spare invest them into creators/art that bring you something. It seems antithetical because they taught us real art should be free from capitalism’s shackles yadda yadda, but art and artists needs money to flourish. Find indie artists and wacky projects and fund them.
This is an excellent point and it bears repeating. Indie artists deserve to eat, and unfortunately we’re currently stuck in a capitalist hell hole. So until that system is demolished, throw them some coin for their work.
One might argue that the system does not get demolished as long as it works.
It doesn’t, and that’s a good point. A lot of supposed “leftists” are really just sitting around waiting for it to happen, without realizing it takes all of us joining an org and doing some shit about the injustice around us.
Joining an org was not what I meant, even though it’s definitely a good thing, and I agree.
My point was more about, yes, indie artists deserve to eat, but paying them in a capitalistic fashion, likely through a payment processor, a subscription/donation platform, and whatever other intermediaries, might be a “feel-good” sentiment, but if you’re serious about demolishing the system, should not be done.
Oh! I completely missed your point. Yes, use cash or barter, certainly don’t continue to promote capitalist hegemony.
