Illegal, yes, but can you blame us?

[Nitronium]

I had a few cousin from the US over the other day. Whilst going through my computer, they noticed the amount of downloaded material. Movies and songs in particular. Not only were they mortified, but also began sermonizing about how wrong it was.

That got me thinking. Can you blame us??

• 1. Movies. The only movies that get released here are those that are internationally successful. The odd Batman, Superman, or family comedy. We never get real cinema. The moment there is a bit of adult content, the Censor Board steps in cuts out whatever they deem unecessary, or stop it from releasing altogether.
  I don't think DVD libraries are a solution either. They are not authorised by the production houses to lend copies of the DVD out. The federal warning at the beginning of every movie is a clear indication of this.
  
• 2. Music. Fine. You want to but a CD. Support the artist. The damn album costs 1000/- retail!! They import CD's and we end up paying almost double (more i think). Highly unfair. And even Angola has an iTunes store, India doesn't (yet at least. I did hear rumours of it opening for Indian content exclusively). I'm sure a vast majority of us would love to give back to the artist what they rightfully deserve. But as Indian's we aren't allowed to, are we?

I DO NOT SUPPORT PIRACY. THAT I REPEAT.
But I'd like to hear your views on the same.

[Mayavi]

Ignore your sermonizing cousins. Everyone downloads movies and music in the US and rest of world. You have to remember that most of the movies/music you are downloading is uploaded from US or Europe and most of the software you use to download is also developed in US/Europe.

Support artisits? How many artists get the money that we spend buying their stuff? Its the studios that get all the money and they only support artists that can make them money. How much of the money that people spend buying Nirvana or Beatles is going to the artists?

I do not support Piracy in some cases, say a brand new movie or a brand new album when I can buy them. But at the same time I do not want to pay 250 bucks in a theater for a Hollywood movie or 1000 Rs for a music CD or 5000 Rs for Windows Vista. If I am charged according to my purchasing power, I will not feel the need to download.

[aaggoswami]

Who supports piracy ? Who will hate having a genuine copy with all support and more over, no worry of virus, spam ?
But again its cost. I calculated that if I did not have original microsoft support for students, all the original softwares that I use will cost me more than 2.5 lakh rupees. Now think about that. And with all softwares like tune up utilities,etc, I will have a pc whose hardware + software cost will be rs. 3.2 lakh for my final year alone.

If I consider the software cost through my BCA years, then the software cost will be more than 6 lakhs.
This is not the case with US.

And dont worry, US people are the one who upload the copies for us to download.
Everything ranging from computer hardware like processor to software like even OS, we have it overpriced.

A very typical example. My frined has monhtly income of less than Rs. 6k. His father died when he was very young. To complete his studies, he has to use pirated copies. How can he afford Rs. 1.75 lakh 3DS MAX. I managed through my teached who left country. Not everybody does the same.

We surely are not at fault. A normal person is earning Rs. 15K per month or lets say Rs. 20K. Considering the normal living cost, I dont think that we can expect him to have genuine copy of anything, either softwares or movies or songs.

About movies and songs. Some old songs are not available, so one has to download.

When I entered the software development on small scale, I realized that how difficulut it is to write a software and what it costs. But again India is again a different story.

[SirAlec]

Dude! tell them amrerican and european kids are the one who uploads them.

We just download them. Simple as that.

[amitoj]

Here is my take on this:

Case 1: Most of the movies do not get released here. This means that the production house doesnt see us as a market. As a result, their bottomline does not have any impact on whether we download the movie or not.

Case 2: Most of the movies that do get released here in theaters, are released after a long delay. For example, Wall E, Burn After Reading, Hulk's last release. What have i done to deserve this delayed treatment??

Case 3: The DVDs that do come into the market are of such poor quality. Just turn the dvd case over and see where it was manufactured. My dvd of Ratatouille didnt run from day 1.

[DKG]

Purchase of pirated material is an offence. Your circumstances in life have no bearing in justifying your dealing in stolen property.

Today I'd love to drive a brand new 911. I can't afford it. Would I buy one for a tenth the price coz its stolen? No way.

Having said that someone recently directed me to a store where mp3 music is sold for Rs 60 a CD. I know its pirated hence its low cost. I bought two CD's. I know its wrong of me to do so as I denied the artist his due. What's even more pathetic is I can afford buying it legally but am too lazy to visit a store and browse through two dozen albums to choose something I like. At Rs 60 I can't be bothered if I picked up trash.

Bottomline remains that what I did is wrong.

I do know that if the cops start stopping vehicles to check if the music in their cars is pirated and a stiff fine follows I will take time out to visit a store and browse and select what I like and pay full price for it.

Perhaps even just talking about these issues here will sensitise me to not buy such stuff again.

[greenhorn]

Suppose you borrowed your friend's 911, fabricated all the parts yourself using it as a reference using your perfect replication skills, and made an identical one for yourself at the tenth of its price, would that be a crime ?

[Spitfire]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

Suppose you borrowed your friend's 911, fabricated all the parts yourself using it as a reference using your perfect replication skills, and made an identical one for yourself at the tenth of its price, would that be a crime ?

The RTO wont register it

Get the point?

[DKG]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

Suppose you borrowed your friend's 911, fabricated all the parts yourself using it as a reference using your perfect replication skills, and made an identical one for yourself at the tenth of its price, would that be a crime ?

that's a good one. If there were no patents protecting manufacture of some components then yes its not a crime. If patents exist then copying is a crime.

The Chinese are doing just what you said. And the rest of the world is going crazy trying to get them to the anti-piracy laws agreement table!

[maddy42]

Well am not getting into right or wrong but what is the punishment for possesing pirated material? As in in India and also US?

[jaysmokesleaves]

Its a free world order of sorts.
A thief is not a thief until caught and his crime established.
We are all criminals somewhere or the other.
If they do not want people to download, then they ought to do away with the www.
You cannot put up a poster on a public road that anyone can read, and then say that it is illegal to read without permission and payment.
If its in the open, its free for all.
If the information is classified then it should not be freely available, period. That may apply to music, movies, anything. If you want me to pay, make sure i cant get it for free. The onus is on the owner to secure his car, the thief is out there waiting for his opportunity. And ofcourse, then thers insurance too

[DKG]

Originally Posted by jaysmokesleaves

Its a free world order of sorts.

True. When you have countries dubbing killing as terrorism when it dosn't suit them and justifying killing as an act of national security when it suits them then it all goes up in smoke!!

PS Not trying to start a debate on terrorism

[ajmat]

Three years ago, some senior people wereasked to leave for having downloaded pirated music onto the company laptops. It puts not only the individual but the company also in trouble

[dkhatau]

In todays world of free data exchange through internet it will be difficult to control piracy, so the artist themselves have to understand and charge less royalty so that everybody pays up without going for pirated songs.

[DKG]

Excuse me for veering away from the thread but today there was an article in the papers about corporate hospitals reusing "single use" items under the pretext not everyone can afford a new set. Apparently the law forbids multiple use. So here in India we do have a bizarre set of ethics even when it comes to corporates too

Mods you feel a separate thread discussing corporate ethics is in order?