I have a few personal rules about it, eg. I’ll try not to pirate smaller, independent things where it might conceivably screw over the creator, but other than that it’s all fair game IMO.

As a side note, it’s been interesting to grow up hearing non-stop from the corporate world that piracy is evil and is killing art or whatever, only to watch them do a full 180 in the last couple of years now that they need to pirate the entire internet to train AI.

I would definitely download a car.

Piracy is the great economic equalizer in the age of digital exploitation.

Ethically? If you would’ve bought it if you couldn’t pirate it, you should probably buy it.

With how shit my countries consumer protection laws are, 🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

I think it’s good :)

I am conflicted about it.

I was a teenager in the 90s and piracy back then was new and was an act of rebellion, a fuck you to copyright assholes and a way to stick it to The Man (whatever that means).

Now I think more about the damage that it could cause to creators and developers, but also I don’t like to support predatory and exploitative platforms, so I could say I have become more selective with my piracy, and whenever I think it’s fair, I will pay for the thing I have pirated if I like it/find it useful/think the price is fair.

Piracy is terrible, but there are very few places in the world where it still exists, like Somali.

3 words.

Stand.

And.

Deliver.

I’ll admit to being mostly right of center in a lot of ways gasp HERE??! Lol.

But I’m no boot licker.

Anarchocapitalist is probably the closest category.

That said, there’s nothing I like more than fighting back against “the man” whether that “man” is a corporation or the government itself.

So when corporations, or anyone really, tries to fuck me over?

Stand. And. Deliver. Bitch.

I turn 49 in August. I’ve had a home computer since 1984. I am of the generation that could work on the old school computers, and I’ve been pirating since the 80s.

If you want me to PAY you, make it worth the money. Otherwise, I’ll get it however I can get away with.

Stealing boats should not be considered a crime against humanity.

OS is nice in that it’s not going to turn around and do something malicious. Pirated proprietary software both can and has a stronger-than-usual motive to.

I think it is unethical to pay (or demand payment) for things that can be copied freely. It’s a joke, insanity, a depraved legacy/necessity from the Blue Church.

It’s a good way to get your data stolen/malware. Don’t get me wrong from 10-18 I used pirated software exclusively. But it’s not secure or a good idea at all if you’re going to use, say, banking or crypto stuff. You can get a winblows key from a reseller for like $15-20USD. I personally wouldn’t mess around with any of it anymore. I got a bunch of cool art programs in a bundle for I think $25 ($400 usd value) that I use now, and before that I used Krita.

If buying isn’t owning then piracy isn’t stealing.

I prefer to use FOSS software. There is a risk of getting malware from pirated software. Even if there is no malware, commercial software usually has lots of tracking and telemetry anyways.

Both FOSS and piracy are about freedom. The first is given, the second is taken.