
Pirate Bay Receives Notice To Keep a Torrent - rpledge
http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-receives-notice-to-keep-a-torrent-100825/
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wwortiz
The original reddit comment by the author here:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/d4z7q/when_you_...](http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/d4z7q/when_you_find_your_software_as_a_cracked_download/c0xm28h)
is actually rather interesting. If you delve deeper into the comments he
actually gives someone a full license copy to someone that had trouble with
the cracked version.

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todayiamme
Have you noticed something? They removed the torrent, but they refuse to do so
under legal pressure from huge corporate empires.

I think that this is an elegant proof that being genuinely nice to people
works. Pirate bay is a site run by an organization for a political reason, but
we tend to forget that it's made up of people too.

~~~
jrockway
The message said they did a bad job cracking the software. Maybe they took it
down, are doing a good job, and then they're going to put it back up.

I feel that ego is a primary motivator for the piracy community. This does not
feed it.

~~~
todayiamme
Look, the "piracy community" is made up of people with different motivations
for why they do what they do. For some of them it's an ego satisfying game.
For others, it's something else. So, I would rather look at them as decent
human beings making a mistake. It just makes it so much easier to deal with
anyone.

Sometimes, being nice to people and holding them to a higher standard works.
Irrespective of who they are, because genuine respect and decency combined
with good humor is something so rare that it's a prized commodity.

~~~
kiba
They did not make an ethical mistake. Instead, they merely show what is
inevitable.

There are holes in the maps of hollywood that people ignored to their own
perils. They could have launch business model experiment that doesn't risk
much of anything. They could have adapted. They could find the truth as to
what allow them to thrive.

Even as a libertarian, I saw no wrong-doing in what pirates did. They copied,
but did not steal. Even if they deprived somebody of their income, it is not
sufficient to be a ethical violation of some sort. If it was, than whole
disruptive business would be unethical. Chinese workers would be condemned for
taking somebody's job.

~~~
jules
That's a ridiculous comparison. If the pirates were building the software
instead of cracking it and selling it for cheaper that would be comparable.
Pirates depend on a honest person doing the hard work for them. Chinese
workers do not.

~~~
indrax
Just because work you do benefits another does not entitle you to that value.
Yes pirates cannot pirate what does not exist. That just means the market
needs to find a way to pay content creation, instead of content copying.

~~~
jules
If I create software I am entitled to sell it. People are not entitled to get
it for free if I want them to pay me for it. Yes, it costs me nothing if they
pirate it. But can I steal a car from a factory if I pay them the marginal
cost of producing it? Of course not.

Paying for content creation is a fantasy in software. Name any big consumer
application that could have been developed that way with developers getting
paid about the same as they would by selling it (i.e. about the same as the
value they provide).

~~~
indrax
>People are not entitled to get it for free if I want them to pay me for it.

People are entitled, no, people have a right to reproduce information they
have. You do not own it.

If you think commercial programmers are getting paid for the value they
provide, you don't understand the market or economics. (Hint: if software cost
that much, no one would buy it.)

~~~
jules
I do own it. By law. And they cannot legally copy and distribute it. Read up
on copyright law.

> If you think commercial programmers are getting paid for the value they
> provide, you don't understand the market or economics. (Hint: if software
> cost that much, no one would buy it.)

So are you saying that nobody is buying software? Software does cost "that
much" and people are buying it.

~~~
indrax
>I do own it. By law. And they cannot legally copy and distribute it. Read up
on copyright law.

This discussion is on whether deprivation of income is sufficient to qualify
as an ethical violation. You claimed that people are not entitled to get
something for free "if I want them to pay me for it". (Really?) I asserted a
general right to copy information. This right does not need to come from law,
though law ought to recognize it.

I understand the law, what is the justification of the law?

>So are you saying that nobody is buying software? Software does cost "that
much" and people are buying it.

No, you said:

>Name any big consumer application that could have been developed that way
with developers getting paid about the same as they would by selling it (i.e.
about the same as the value they provide).

Virtually nothing is sold at the price of the value it provides. It it were,
the buyer would get no gains from trade.

In truth, commercial software is frequently sold way below the price of the
value it provides. This is why people buy it. (though the provided value will
vary from buyer to buyer.)

Some will make their whole income with visual studio or photo shop, but only
pay a tiny fraction of that.

I realize you see an injustice in rampant copying, but I don't think you're
thinking through your arguments, or not wording them well. Because these are
coming out very obviously flawed.

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zeteo
While this is probably unintentional, if it weren't then it'd make some pretty
good guerrilla advertising for his software.

~~~
DrJokepu
The cynicist within me thinks that it was intentional. These days almost
everything viral has been designed to be viral.

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dchest
I found the opposite to be true. Whenever I did something "guerilla
marketing"-style, it never worked.

Though, of course, the intentional part of this was that I took a screenshot
to share with my friends and Twitter followers, but I never thought it would
become that popular. (BTW, I took it and posted to Twitter in May, however it
became hot when I used it as an illustration of my opinion in reddit comment.)

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acangiano
I call this type of approach, Judo Marketing: where you use your opponent's
strength to your benefit.

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nandemo
Dmitry Chestnykh is the guy who wrote "I Write Like":

<http://iwl.me/>

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sandipagr
simply awesome!

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sandipagr
I don't understand why I am downvoted for saying I liked the humor!

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thehigherlife
not really adding to the discussion.

~~~
sandipagr
sure!

