Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Why DON'T you pirate?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="pawsplay" data-source="post: 4745369" data-attributes="member: 15538"><p>I don't think that logically follows. Creators do maintain control over their creations, and people do earn money from their creations, even though piracy occurs. It's a stretch to say, "The person who wrote this is entitled to payment because I made a copy." It isn't necessarily the creator who gets paid, anyway, in this era of work-for-hire. </p><p></p><p>Copyrights and royalties are not natural rights; they are specific privileges enshrined in our laws for a specific purpose. Just as an example, copyrights do not exist in traditional hunter-gatherer societies. Yet a person cannot complain they have been "stolen" from if a song they invent gets sung by others in the group and transmits to other groups. </p><p></p><p>Copyrights, also, expire... is it unethical to download something the day before the expiration, but ethical the next day? The only thing that makes it unethical the day before is the existence of a law. Copyrights are ultimately as much of an ethical issue as stop signs. Is it generally unethical to run a stop sign? Yes, because you might contribute to an accident by not following the cultural norm. But is it evil to pass by a red octagon in a moving vehicle without stopping? Are the British evil because they drive on the "wrong" side of the road?</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, we are stuck with a 20th century system for dealing with a 21st century economic question. The sacredness of property is a ridiculous myth. Property laws are useful, but from time to time, they must be ammended. You can no longer indebt your grandchildren, in the USA it is illegal to actually buy and sell people (and this thankfully occurs rarely today), and Microsoft is not allowed to update your EULA to state that they may read any files they please on your computer. </p><p></p><p>In this case, yes, by all means, pay for your PDFs. But I feel no guilt about pirating material I cannot obtain legally. With regards to the law, the punishment for making a single infringing copy should be something reasonable... that's in the Constitution. Fining someone thousands of dollars and throwing them in Federal prison for making, say, a copy of a page from a school workbook, is just ridiculous. Obviously, creators deserve to be compensated for their labors, but making a federal case out of teenagers downloading MP3s is not what I call justice, either. </p><p></p><p>Making electronic copies of information is just <em>too easy</em> for anyone to expect it won't be done under reasonable circumstances. </p><p></p><p>How is this all supposed to work? I wish I knew. But trying to put the genie back in the bottle is just not going to work.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pawsplay, post: 4745369, member: 15538"] I don't think that logically follows. Creators do maintain control over their creations, and people do earn money from their creations, even though piracy occurs. It's a stretch to say, "The person who wrote this is entitled to payment because I made a copy." It isn't necessarily the creator who gets paid, anyway, in this era of work-for-hire. Copyrights and royalties are not natural rights; they are specific privileges enshrined in our laws for a specific purpose. Just as an example, copyrights do not exist in traditional hunter-gatherer societies. Yet a person cannot complain they have been "stolen" from if a song they invent gets sung by others in the group and transmits to other groups. Copyrights, also, expire... is it unethical to download something the day before the expiration, but ethical the next day? The only thing that makes it unethical the day before is the existence of a law. Copyrights are ultimately as much of an ethical issue as stop signs. Is it generally unethical to run a stop sign? Yes, because you might contribute to an accident by not following the cultural norm. But is it evil to pass by a red octagon in a moving vehicle without stopping? Are the British evil because they drive on the "wrong" side of the road? Unfortunately, we are stuck with a 20th century system for dealing with a 21st century economic question. The sacredness of property is a ridiculous myth. Property laws are useful, but from time to time, they must be ammended. You can no longer indebt your grandchildren, in the USA it is illegal to actually buy and sell people (and this thankfully occurs rarely today), and Microsoft is not allowed to update your EULA to state that they may read any files they please on your computer. In this case, yes, by all means, pay for your PDFs. But I feel no guilt about pirating material I cannot obtain legally. With regards to the law, the punishment for making a single infringing copy should be something reasonable... that's in the Constitution. Fining someone thousands of dollars and throwing them in Federal prison for making, say, a copy of a page from a school workbook, is just ridiculous. Obviously, creators deserve to be compensated for their labors, but making a federal case out of teenagers downloading MP3s is not what I call justice, either. Making electronic copies of information is just [i]too easy[/i] for anyone to expect it won't be done under reasonable circumstances. How is this all supposed to work? I wish I knew. But trying to put the genie back in the bottle is just not going to work. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Why DON'T you pirate?
Top