Why is piracy an offence?

Question

What's wrong with downloading a movie or a song for free? I just think the law against piracy is in favour of the rich.

Answer 1

Of course they are in favor of the rich. In my opinion, an artist should be happy that they have fans enjoying their work rather than missing out on two cents from one song.

Answer 2

Because you're cheating the record company / producers out of cash. But I personally think that clients such as Limewire and Bearshare benefit the industry more than is recognized.

For example, if I download an album (or a few songs from it) that I've been wanting to hear for a long time, the quality's usually choppy... etc. So then, I go out and buy the CD so that i can pop it in my player and have it sound the way it should. Plus, with downloads you don't get all the cool artwork either.

In reality, a lot of people are more into buying the album rather than just keeping a fake, mp3 version of it sitting on their hard drive. So in conclusion, I think that this is more beneficial to the record companies and producers - they should in fact legalize piracy.

Answer 3

You are stealing money from more then just the "rich". If it is a song, the song writer, the back up musicans, the producer, the sound mixer, the editor, etc, all get a small cut of each record sold, nothing like the star, when you do not pay they get nothing. If they do not get paid, why would they keep doing it? If you made something to sell, and everyone just took it without paying, how would you feel, and how long would you do it? What we should be looking at, is how to make it more affordable for the average person.

Answer 4

It is called piracy because they are thieves.
Thieves steal other peoples property or work without paying for it .
Being a thief is even against the 10 commandments.
Thieves and murderers are the 2 oldest criminals.
Working people don't like thieves nor murderers
And bogus whining about favoring the rich is for losers.

Answer 5

What is wrong with stealing a candy bar from Wal-Mart? This is the EXACT same question you are asking. You are stealing someone else's property (in the case of music, you are violating thier copyright). Piracy is exactly the same as shoplifting, it is theft.

Answer 6

Think of it this way; Lets say you wrote a book and it was published and in the bookstores on sale. You aren't getting any money for it though because the book store owner is copying your book for everyone and giving it away free of charge. It makes no difference if they are rich or poor....they earned that money and have the right to it.

Answer 7

No it's a favor to the artiest like the singer, song writer etc the one who did it to make money not give it away...

Answer 8

You're right. Thats why when the average joe downloads and uses an illegal copy of windows....no one cares! now when a business or a big business does the same thing...now THEY have money, so THEY are the ones that get sued most often.

Answer 9

Well would you like to take TONS of TIME and MONEY to create something, to MAKE money, and then not even make money off of it because people are too lazy and cheap to pay a dollar for your creation... I would be a little pissed... and yes it is an offense.

Answer 10

Because people are greedy. But it's going to change soon... younger generations would rather watch original free vids and music from places like youtube.com, so greedy entertainment people who sue "pirates" will eventually go broke. Hurray! :)

Answer 11

Because we have to respect commerce on the high seas