How bad is piracy?

[Rookierookie]

http://theinquirer.net/?article=31256

[dragon wench]

This is just a blatant sop to corporate entertainment and its lobby groups.

Pretty disgusting, IMO, that electronic piracy is apparently rated on the same level as pedophilia...

[Fiberfar]

Originally Posted by dragon wench

This is just a blatant sop to corporate entertainment and its lobby groups.

Pretty disgusting, IMO, that electronic piracy is apparently rated on the same level as pedophilia...

It was rated worse, no?

pedohilia has a sentence of 7 years, while piracy has a sentence of 10 years.
(or am I totaly wrong now?)

[Magrus]

*nods* I'm sure the police will this:

It appears that the DMCA will have a maximum sentence of ten years inside for the crime of software and music piracy. It will also give the FBI the powers to wiretap suspected pirates.

For example assaulting a police officer will get you five years

So, I'm better off kicking the snot out of a cop than pirating over-priced music? Oh, yeah, they'll be thrilled!

[dragon wench]

Originally Posted by Fiberfar

It was rated worse, no?

pedohilia has a sentence of 7 years, while piracy has a sentence of 10 years.
(or am I totaly wrong now?)

Hmmm... I was basing my interpretation on this...

Although sentencing varies in the US, the new law does send a very strange message as to what the government considers 'bad' in the 21st century.

For example assaulting a police officer will get you five years, downloading child porn will get you seven years, assaulting without a weapon will get you ten years and aggravated assault six years.

So in other words if you copy a Disney CD and sell it you will be in the same league as a paedophile who is distributing pictures of sexual attacks on children.

But... my little vector has passed along his flu bug to me.. so no guarantees on my present clarity

[Fiberfar]

Originally Posted by dragon wench

But... my little vector has passed along his flu bug to me.. so no guarantees on my present clarity

Your clarity is better than mine... I feel clouded each day

[fable]

The harsh sentence for piracy is a high end. Judges can impose a lesser sentence. The reason behind that high end is not to catch someone copying their older brother's BG2 CDs, but to stop pirates selling anywhere from hundreds to millions of copies of a popular DVD or CD.

I honestly can't see any downside to this. When we were in a street market in Sofia, Bulgaria, about 10 years ago, there was a vendor selliing nothing but pirated copies of American movies and CDs. I understand that if you multiply him by hundreds, you have the situation in downtown Singapore. And in the US, there are quite a few pirate outfits that circulate these materials via email. It's certainly not as pronounced, but it definitely is a major problem.

I figure that I want a game company, or a record producer, or a film studio, that issues something I really like to get back every cent due them, in the hopes they will have enough revenues to do it, again. If it means throwing a few pirates in jail and scaring the rest to accomplish this, that's fine.

[Xandax]

theinquier is one of the "news" sites which likes to put things to the extreeme, and most thing they write should be taken with more then just a grain of salt and not to literally.


It is as fable says, simply because the the (US) law states that you can get up to 10 years for this and 7 years for that is not the same as you will get 10 years if you get busted for doing this and 7 for that.
And statements like:

if you copy Craig David's CD you get ten years, but if you punch him in the face and pummel him into a seven day coma you will only get six.

is just plainly wrong.
If you copy a CD and get caught for it, you'll recive a fine. Show me just one case where the penalty frame have been used fully for one copied CD.
If you sell 100.000 copies of the CD, then you might risk jail. People have been caught who have sold copies for a market value of hundreds of millions - and without even investigating - I'd doubt they got 10years of jail, and if they did - then I actually see no fault in it.

Softwarepiracy is indeed a huge issue, and all complications and hindsight reasoning aside then there is no doubt that illegally copied products counts for many many many million dollars each year.

The "problem" with piracy however is manyfold and many reasons exists for why ordinary people do it and see it as more "okay" then much other lawbreaking, but nevertheless it is a huge industry and I see absolutly no fault in trying to crack down on the organised piracy. I've gotten in to this in past discussions, and see no reason to do so again in this thread.
But I strongly doubt you'll (at the moment) see anybody convicted to 10 years of jail for copying a Craig David CD, wereas you are more likely to see somebody getting 6 years for pummeling him into a coma.

[Aramant]

Arr, I not be seein' tha harm in a wee bit o' tha sweet trade, says I. Many a stripey what's gone on th' account be only out ta get 'imself a wee bit o' coin what for some salmagundi and a nipperkin o' tha clap o' thunder whilst crackin' Jenny's teacup with a lady o' expansive sensibility. Yarr.