Is piracy/torrenting unethical?

So in my mind I think piracy/torrenting is equivalent to stealing, I know torrenting(as in torrenting stuff ur not supposed to torrent) is usually not illegal in most countries but I heard its classified as an ethical wrong.

But my friend asked me, if you buy a game and ur friends come over to play is that wrong? Is lending a game to someone wrong? If we put things this way, there seems to be no problem with torrenting. The seeder is just lending the game to everybody.

What do you guys think?

In my mind it's stealing... if everyone did it then no money would be made by the developers/producers and in the end everyone would suffer. I have cousins who download pirated movies all the time and it annoys the sh** out of me.

It's not ethical, but over the years I've learned that most people justify it by claiming that the owners of the pirated materials are rich and greedy and as a result deserve to be ripped off. I actually have more respect for pirates that will flat out say that they pirate because they are too poor or cheap to pay for the materials than the ones that use the excuse that they are screwing over the rich for pirating.

I could understand people that pirate in countries that otherwise have no other way to get the materials either due to extreme poverty or legal restrictions such as trade embargoes.

Eh, I don't know what I feel about it honestly... I've never pirated a game, but I often stream movies. I've never downloaded or made copies of them, for some reason that part feels wrong to me, but I do watch a lot of movies online. I typically will buy the movies I feel are worth it.

I understand why people may view this as unethical but it seems weird to me that I'm just supposed to fork over my money for a product when I don't know if it will be any good or not. This way I buy a movie after I know it's good. In my eyes, it's kind of like if you could only buy a car after seeing a series of short videos about the car... then you're shit outta luck if it doesn't run well.

EDIT: Also, I don't see how anyone can think pirating is wrong but be okay with borrowing games or buying used games.... there isn't a difference when it comes to the content creators getting money for their work.

I pirate movies, games or music. I own many of them legally also. All depends on my savings, if i can afford to buy i buy, if not i pirate.

@indzman: Are you okay with that? I mean you could just... I don't know...not buy the things you can't afford?

Definitely is illegal. Most prevalent is in the music business, as most of you know. The law is just too far behind the technology to do anything about it.

@BboyStatix: The difference between a person lending out their copy of a game is that while it's lent out they themselves cannot play it.

@MuD3: We have game demos for that sort of stuff. I don't see how that justifies pirating the entertainment product though. If there's no game demo, you just gotta try your luck. If a car owner doesn't let you go for a test drive it doesn't make it justified to steal the car for a test drive on your own.

@Serraph105: Wow, can't believe I overlooked that. But at the same time, there's an issue. What if 3 friends decide to share the money for Arkham knight. The deal is that each person finishes the game and gives it to the next friend to finish. That's pretty messed up lol cuz none of them really lose anything by lending it out. They're done with the game already!

Of course. No remorse. I buy original stuff too when i can afford, i don't feel gulity by pirating :)

@Celldrax: I actually bought a clearly illicit copy of an old Disney show called Pepper Ann from a guy on a website. What else could I do? They don't sell the show on dvd or vhs and never have.

The show has a Thanksgiving episode that my girlfriend had a very bad copy of on VHS which broke while I was trying to get a digital copy from for her, and I actually begged several people from Disney for just that one episode, and amazingly they sent it to me. I suppose I could have begged them for the entire series, but that's not exactly a reasonable request.

@indzman: Think about the children in Africa! Lol that was completely unrelated xD

LOL

If i could, i'd definately love to send some of my money to Children in Africa lol. BTW i'm from india, a poor country and i'm a poor guy , its not possible for me to buy every games or movies or music, neither my government stops me from pirating stuff off internet. So i enjoy free stuff sometimes :)

Again none of them could play it all at the same time.

I'm not going to play this game of what ifs with you because frankly I don't care if people torrent various types of media and in the case of low income areas (or 3rd world countries) actually support it. I say this due to the possibility of people coming up with new and beneficial concepts with the access of information they would otherwise not have. Take GazaAli for example (a gamespot user) who has used the internet to help teach himself English to better improve his existence. Who's to say watching torrented movies in english didn't directly contribute to a better understanding of the language?

The problem is in first world countries like ours where we live in an abundance of nearly everything there is just about no logical reason for torrenting (with the possible exception of having no legal method to obtain it). And again I don't actually if you do torrent various media, but don't try to logic your way into it being the right thing to do because there just isn't a scenario where it can really be justified.

Uh...you guys do remember that admitting to illegal activities on this site is frowned upon, right?

It's one thing to discuss something that's illegal--it's something else altogether to admitting to it, hence the removed posts. If you continue to talk about how you pirate things off the internet, I'll have to close the thread.

@hallenbeck77: Is my admitting to buying something, let's say bad, outside the TOU? I'll remove it myself if it is.

@Serraph105: No I don't torrent and I'm completely against it but im saying my friend brought up a logical point. I don't care how poor someone is and how piracy contributed to someone's well being or self improvrement. Stealing is stealing and that's that. But whether borrowing falls under that category that's what I'm asking people. I haven't borrowed any entertainment medium as of yet but I wanna know if it's wrong.

Try borrowing from the library. Anyways it's illegal, and people make up their own ethics so it's sorta whatever you want.

@Serraph105: I wish we had a concrete set of ethics or morals :(

@Serraph105:

That's not as bad as openly admitting to pirating/torrenting, but still, shame! j/k.

I didn't moderate anyone, just simply removed the posts with no penalty.

@hallenbeck77: cool cool.

lending a game to a friend and torrenting a game is not the same thing. The seeder is not lending the game to everybody.

Well aware. But as I explained, it technically wasn't actually illegal.

Can't buy what isn't being sold.

Thanks for removing my posts Hallenbeck77. I really forgot GS TOS about admitting to piracy and stuff. Thanking you again for no penalty this time :)

@hallenbeck77: ah i see, leaving no survivors!

@Iszdope said:

@dylandr said:

@Iszdope said:

Aaaaaargh...pirates!

**** you.

But I don't wanna be a pirate.

Then i will have to shoot you land lubber!

It's wrong. You can't expect a company to spend millions for your entertainment and then you get it for free. Not only are you stealing but you are contributing to the downfall of something you like doing or listening to, which is a bit stupid. Then people complain about how money making is the main goal of companies rather than making a quality product, which is true to an extent, but it is probably influenced a little by some profits being lost to piracy.

@Iszdope: me 'n gang will fok u up!

@Iszdope: this was the perfect moment for a matrix .GIF and you ruined your oppertunity, shame on you!

@Iszdope: disapproving nun disapproves!

It's difficult to feel sorry for companies that actively treat the consumer like shit. When Ubisoft complains about 95% piracy rate, it;s kinda like a Pike complaining it's been caught by a fisherman.

On the other hand, you see people who try to make it sound like they are Robin Hood posting those stupid "piracy isn't stealing" pictures. refusing to take any responsibility to admit 1. It's easy 2. You can pretty much do it with little to no chance of repercussions.

To answer the qeastion: Yes, but when it comes to companies like Ubisoft, screw them.

I'm a black wizard.

@Iszdope: I WILL SLAP THE BLACK OUT OF YOU!

Maybe not, but i'm not going to buy it unless I can drive it first. He'll never know I test drove it and if the drive is favorable he will make a sale he would not have otherwise.

@Iszdope: It show's my power and that i am serious!

It's definitely illegal.

Whether it's unethical might entirely depend on a case-by-case basis.

@Iszdope: