Preventing Piracy: A Guide On How To Avoid Pirate Activities
Foreword:
I am a man who has despised piracy and the works of copyright thieves my entire life. As soon as I could
understand what copyright was, I became a massive proponent for it and for what it stand for: Order, a
bullwark against those who'd stoop so low as to steal someone else's idea and pawn it off as their own.
I can not STAND pirates, I get physically violent around them, my family has banned any mention of pirates
or pirate adjacent activities in my presence! Yet however much I hate pirates, I understand that some people
simply do not know better; some are ignorant to the damage they're doing by downloading a game or a book for
free. Seeking to better your knowledge is no excuse, even for those who are trying to learn about the law itself!
Yet again, it is understandable that some people may not truly grasp the gravity of their actions. That's what
this guide is for, for those who don't know how to avoid piracy!
In this guide on avoiding piracy, I endeavour to teach you, the reader, on how to spot piracy in the wild,
how to resist the siren call of free stuff, and the most common / popular services currently used in modern
copyright theft.
What IS Piracy Anyway?
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines piracy as:
... The unauthorized use of another's production, invention, or conception especially in infringement of a copyright
While the Cambridge Dictionary defines piracy as:
... The act of illegally copying computer programs, recordings, films, etc. to sell them at much cheaper prices
Now these definitions, while succinct, are insufficient for truly understanding what piracy is and what it entails. What does it mean to "illegally" copy a piece of media, or to "infringe" on copyright? Maybe Wikipedia's definition of piracy is better:
Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, such as the right to reproduce, distribute, display or perform the protected work, or to make derivative works. The copyright holder is typically the work's creator, or a publisher or other business to whom copyright has been assigned. Copyright holders routinely invoke legal and technological measures to prevent and penalize copyright infringement
Ok now we can work with this. Summarizing, piracy -- or copyright infringement -- is when someone does something to a
copyrighted work without permission, like making a copy and redistributing it. This is, for the most part, the extent
of piracy for most internet users: the copying and redistribution of a copyrighted work. The actual details of real
copyright law are a bit too verbose and unnecessarily fine-grained for this guide, so I'll spare you the detail.
TL:DR - Piracy is the unauthorized copying and redistribution of a copyrighted material
But Why Do People Pirate?
People pirate for a multitude of reasons, all unacceptable, but some more "valid" than others. Some of these reasons include:
- Pricing: The pirate may believe the copyrighted work is priced too high, or may be unable to afford a legitamite purchase
- "Trials": The pirate may wish to trial the copyrighted work, say in the case of software, to determine its "true" value
- Availability: The pirate may be unable to acquire the copyrighted work through legitamite means, and is forced to pirate as a means to access the content
- DRM Removal: The copyrighted work may employ DRM as a means to prevent pirates from exploiting their work, which may interfere with the legitamite use of the software/media
- Flagrant Disregard: Some people simply disagree with the concept of copyright, and become pirates as they do not respect the law
- Etc.: Other (still invalid) reasons not mentioned for lack of time
Again, none of these reasons are valid excuses to break the law:
- Pricing: Many things are unaffordable to the average person, such as a jet carrier. Should I be able to steal a jet carrier just because I selfishly believe the price I was given is "unrepresentative" of the actual value of the jet carrier? No! That would be completely preposterous.
- "Trials": If a company wished to offer a demo of their software for the general public to trial their software and determine if they should purchase it, then they would simply offer the trial. Furthermore, acquiring a full copy of a piece of interactive media such as software or a video game is NOWHERE near a traditional "demo", as the entire content of the media is contained within the pirated copy. If the pirate didn't wish to pay for the real product, but still wanted to use it, there would be nothing preventing them from simply using the copy they already have
- Availability: This is possibly the most understandable reason as to why someone would intentionally commit piracy, however it is yet again unacceptable. There is plenty of media that has been rendered exclusive to a specific piece of hardware, most notably game consoles. A game which is exclusive to Xbox or Playstation should not be pirated just because it's otherwise exclusive! That's like saying you should be able to steal one of the motors out of a Tesla brand car just because it has motors and your car doesn't!
- DRM Removal: DRM, or Digital Rights Management, is implemented in a piece of software or media as a way to prevent pirates from stealing their product. However, sometimes the measures taken impact user experience and simultaneously fail to prevent pirates from stealing. This is unfortunate, yes, but wouldn't be necessary if it weren't for pirates in the first place! You can't seriously blame the inventor of barbed wire for the injuries of criminals who can obviously see the danger and still cut themselves on it. It's an even more preposterous action to blame him for the injuries of innocents when it's the installer's fault for the faulty use. Don't blame DRM, blame the pirates. And if you can't blame the pirates for some reason, blame the companies who implement DRM in ways that harm the consumer
- Flagrant Disregard: I shouldn't need to comment on this, but I shall regardless. We depend on law and order to keep the peace in modern society. When someone willingly goes against law and order, they are naturally enemies to society as whole and must be dealt with swiftly. While copyright infringement may feel like a victimless crime, it is far from one, and it really does harm the companies it affects. Furthermore, if someone is so willing to skirt the law when it comes to something like copyright infringement, what's preventing them from skirting the law in other places? Pirates are already stealing, so what's to prevent them from shoplifting or snatching purses from frail old ladies?