Are you an anti-piracy or pro-piracy person? why?

Answer 1

I assume you mean software/digital piracy, and not attacking ships on the high seas while flying the Jolly Roger.

When it comes to software, movies and music, I am an anti-piracy person. If you create something and expect to sell it, and sell it to me with the understanding that I only buy one, and I easily copy it and sell it to others or give it away to others, then you are denied the opportunity to make a living (whether we are talking about music, movies, or software, they are all easily copied). It is one thing to not want to buy the product, it is another to obtain the product without paying for it. Anyone who wants to enjoy the benefits of that product should be willing to pay for it, and if they don't want to pay for it, they should do without or find an alternative.

Now, if someone creates a new product and decides to give it away, then I see nothing wrong with that product being free, even if it is similar to a product out there already. That creates healthy competition.

You might not be able to find songs by today's top 40 artists for free (legally), but you can usually find a band somewhere that has recorded their music and is giving it away in hopes of building up a fan base. You may not be able to legally download Microsoft Office and install it for free, but you can legally download and install OpenOffice.org for free. In fact, I think that is a good and healthy thing. The distribution of free (legal) products puts more pressure on the people selling the items to make their product better and worth buying and/or drop their prices to compete.

But anyone who ignores the free alternative for the simple fact that they can get the non-free commercial product for "free" isn't doing anyone any favors. The commercial companies get cheated out of their money, and the free alternatives get cheated by not getting their product out.

Now, I am not much of a music person (my MP3 collection numbers around a dozen... all legal), and I don't pirate movies, but when it comes to software, I have a major problem stealing commercial software. If I need to use it, then I pay for it. If I don't want to pay for it, then I look for alternatives that are either cheaper or free. And if the free software does everything I want to do, why should I bother paying for the commercial software? Why use Adobe Photoshop when GIMP does everything I want? Why spend hundreds of dollars buying Microsoft Office if OpenOffice.org fills all my needs?

There are lots of free alternatives if someone doesn't want to pay anything, and before that person steals something that should be purchased, they should consider going with a legal alternative. Who knows? They may find a gem that is more valuable to them then they ever considered possible.

Answer 2

I've never copied anything myself - mostly because I wouldn't know how :) - but I'm partly anti and partly apathetic. I think it's disgusting to copy anything that someone has sweated and saved to create independently. Low budget films, small-town bands, unsigned artists. However, if it were a P. Diddy track, I would have no qualms about denying him another $1 towards overpriced champagne.

What really excites me is when bands / filmmakers share their work for free just for the love of their art. That's the entertainment of the future - youtube and myspace, and ordinary people entertaining each other. Fine by me.

Answer 3

define piracy
of the seas no
of obsolete patent yes
patent ties up teqnoligy for too long a time
see what patents do to retard science ,every few years improvements must be demonstrated or patent should expire
20 /30 years patants are fraud,think how science advances as with computing [but patents could just supress it for too long]
recognise the concept by a patent of possesion but allowing also patent for improvements
those who abuse patent law to exclusivity harm us all
think a patent to balance global warming could be tied up till its too late.