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AIBU?

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Original poster

To let your offspring have access to pirated material?

172 replies

Tak3n · 10/06/2012 20:17

On Friday I had a text from one of my friends saying how their kids teacher had come to school with a pirated copy of Avengers in for the kids to watch on the last day of term.. (they were 14 years old)

Which got me thinking; do you now think Piracy is so "the norm" that by not letting your kids see the films early etc etc that you are almost excluding them from school ground talk..

I know I have to put my hands up and say I always get my 4 year old the latest films for kids, but obviously he does not understand where they come from, and I am not sure when he is old enough if I should stop and explain to him how things work properly.. i.e cinema/rental or if it is now the way of the world to watch pirated material.

OP posts:
StrandedBear · 10/06/2012 21:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CouthyMow · 10/06/2012 21:55

The Nintendo ds games thing isn't illegal - you pay a subscription charge to Nintendo, for a certain amount of downloaded games per year. And they are downloaded onto special cards that DS1 knows the name of but I can't remember as I'm fairly technologically inept, you do it directly from the Nintendo website, so no infringement if copyright laws.

IVantToBeAlone · 10/06/2012 21:56

squeakytoy Consider me chastised! Nobody with a brain buys a dodgy DVD. It's all downloaded....perfect quality, hence my explanation about DVD rips. It is literally a copy of the DVD.

Totempole My point exactly. Thank you for seeing that side of it. A difficult one for people to understand.

Sunscorch · 10/06/2012 21:57

It IS theft - copyright theft.

"Copyright theft" is kind of meaningless, in my opinion. Clearly, it's a breach of copyright law, but the term "theft" is emotive and misleading.
Besides, the fact that it's in breach of the law doesn't automatically correlate to being wrong.

StrandedBear · 10/06/2012 22:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Sunscorch · 10/06/2012 22:00

It doesn't feel illegal when you use it. But then I suppose some peodo would say that about kiddie porn.

I don't really see your point in comparing it to child pornography. But I know full well that I am breaking the law, even though I don't agree with the law that I'm breaking.

IVantToBeAlone · 10/06/2012 22:01

Literally the only films we go to see in the cinema are the biggies like Avatar or Avengers for the 3D effects. With the advent of home cinemas etc the actual cinemas will become a niche market. Eventually DLing will be done away with and if you want to you will pay a fee per month to see new releases etc in your own home with your massive screen, popcorn machine and 3D tv. Just like the studio bosses!

In saying that, NetFlix is pretty good. I just can't get it as I live in a non-English speaking country....hence the reason for DLing.

LucieMay · 10/06/2012 22:04

Downloading music or films is no different to walking into a shop and stealing a cd or a DVD. It is theft and it is illegal, you cannot justify it however many other people do it.

IVantToBeAlone · 10/06/2012 22:04

sunscorch I agree with all of your points! I meant - if I feel that it is ok to download something which is (in the eyes of the law) illegal, then that is akin to a peado thinking it is ok to download kiddie porn 'just because it is online' and easy for them to do. Does that make more sense?

IVantToBeAlone · 10/06/2012 22:08

Can I just say, this is a really interesting thread! It's nice to talk about something other than kids. Did I just say that?! :)

Sunscorch · 10/06/2012 22:11

Downloading music or films is no different to walking into a shop and stealing a cd or a DVD.

No, it's not. Stealing a physical object deprives others of that object, and the retailer of the revenue from that object.
Copying a file does neither of these things, and may eventually create revenue for a retailer.

Sunscorch · 10/06/2012 22:12

'just because it is online' and easy for them to do

Nobody has made that point, though, as far as I can see =/

BertieBotts · 10/06/2012 22:13

DP downloads stuff, but it kind of takes the fun/specialness away for me. If you have access to anything, ever, right there... I know I'm weird but I quite like being able to look through a limited selection and choose from that. I would only consider downloading something if I couldn't get hold of it any other way (e.g. something I meant to watch on TV but missed and isn't going to be released on DVD, or won't be released for a long time) or if I was really skint but intended to buy it at a later date.

I currently work in a second hand DVD shop and they have a policy where staff members can buy films/games and return them within 2 weeks for a full refund, which means I technically have free DVD rentals for as long as I work there. We don't need to pirate stuff! But he still does Confused

The only "bad" copy we've had recently was Cars 2, it plays fine, but all the writing on screen is in Spanish, so clearly ripped from a Spanish DVD originally.

With DS games, I know from work that if you turn over the cartridge and look at the back if they say "Nintendo 001" on them, they're probably fake. Another thing to look out for is if the little code on the box, cartridge and manual match. In the UK it should end in either EUR or UKV. If it says anything else then it's probably imported.

WorraLiberty · 10/06/2012 22:17

DH's work mate sells 3 DVDs for a tenner

Always crystal clear quality and even includes the extra footage/chapters at the end.

It's very unusual now to see Malaysian DVD sellers in the street...whereas just about 18 months ago you couldn't even sit in a cafe without them coming in and asking if you wanted to buy them.

IVantToBeAlone · 10/06/2012 22:17

sunscorch I am trying to show a correlation between illegal downloading on the internet. That is all! To me, DLing leaves me with no guilt even though it is illegal. To a paedo, DLing KP leaves them with no guilt even though it is illegal (and vile etc etc). It really wasn't meant to turn into posts about pedophilia! Just a comparison in the mind set of people as to what is morally wrong and right.

Sunscorch · 10/06/2012 22:20

To a paedo, DLing KP leaves them with no guilt even though it is illegal (and vile etc etc).

Well, unless you are a paedophile, I'm not really sure how you can comment on that, or how it's helpful to do so =/

JosephineCD · 10/06/2012 22:20

But it's the fact that it's child porn that makes it vile and illegal. Not that it's downloaded.

BertieBotts · 10/06/2012 22:22

Sorry IVant but I really have to disagree.

If you're downloading images of child abuse it's clear that that is wrong, because a child has necessarily been harmed in order to create those images.

If you download a copy of a CD/DVD, well, yes, it's possible someone has been held at knifepoint and forced to upload the content, but is it likely? Of course it isn't. It is literally the same thing as someone saying "Hey, I bought this new DVD the other day, fancy a watch of it? It's really good." It's just that the technology and online networks available mean that instead of saying this to one friend, that person can say it to potentially billions of strangers by offering a copy of the disc's content for streaming or download over the internet. This is of course problematic for the industry, but it's no different from a friend showing you a movie or letting you borrow a CD, it's just on a larger scale.

IVantToBeAlone · 10/06/2012 22:23

sunscorch That was my point. It was a just a comment about how we feel we can defend downloading illegally AS a pedo would. Sheesh kebab......

JosephineCD I give up.

BertieBotts · 10/06/2012 22:23

Images and videos of child abuse would be just as morally wrong if you could buy them from a shop, is the point. It's illegal for a totally different reason so it's not a fair comparison.

BertieBotts · 10/06/2012 22:24

And well, I don't know any paedophiles personally, but I have a feeling that their justification is somewhat different from "It's easy to get hold of" Confused given that you can't exactly stumble across it accidentally on google, and all.

IVantToBeAlone · 10/06/2012 22:26

I am NOT downloading or DEFENDING kiddie porn!!!!!!!! Jesus people!!!!! It was a comment about how we can defend downloading even though it is illegal AS a f*** up pedo would! Seriously. Stop looking for a fight here. Please.

Regardless of the implications that KP has - in its' BASIC form, it is illegal in the eyes of the law. Yes it is fucked up. Yes it is wrong on far too many levels to mention. That was NOT what I was getting at. How on earth has this ended up with me being accused of being a pedo??? WTF???

IVantToBeAlone · 10/06/2012 22:28

BertieBotts I get it!!!!! I know!!!! Ugh. But there are pedos out there who have stated that they feel it is ok as they are not the ones doing the filming - they are merely downloading it. That was my point. Christ on a bike.

TotemPole · 10/06/2012 22:31

Bertie, some users of child porn don't think about where the images come from or what had to happen to make the images. They aren't abusing themselves & the images are readily available. They don't make the connection.

LaurieFairyCake · 10/06/2012 22:32

I download illegally, I don't consider it the same as stealing from a shop as I am directly 'stealing' from the studio - if it's good and worth the money I then buy it.

If cinemas and DVDs had a return policy ie. This was totally awful then I would have no problem paying.

As other have said I also think that yet again it's another industry where only those at the top make the money and screw those at the bottom. And obviously I don't agree with that just as I don't agree with any worker exploitation - me buying a crap film isn't going to solve that. Me campaigning on behalf of workers rights might.

And the third point I want to make is that I download because they have a cheek releasing it at different times in different regions - it's impossible to avoid entirely spoilers for up to six months - so they should get their act together.