Piracy in Windows

[fatclue_98]

It's good you find the subject so amusing. I also thought my posts were quite funny and I'm thoroughly enjoying the discussion about underwear labels.

Nevertheless, it's a shame you find the subject of ad blockers clouding the outrage against piracy. Maybe you could make two lists - one of the posts about piracy, and the other of the posts about ad blocking. You could then read just the posts from one list at a time. That might help uncloud each issue for you!

Nevertheless, I am still waiting for someone to provide a moral or ethical justification for using an ad blocker and enjoying this site without contributing to its costs. Without such an argument being provided, I find it very hard to make a judgement. It's nice that MDMcAtee has a 'right' to block ads on his phone, but is she/he 'right' to do so?

We don't have to contribute to this site's costs because the site administrator doesn't require it. There's nothing to justify. If they needed help there would be a "donate" button somewhere for us to contribute.

 

[Citizen X]

I don't want to make a big deal out of it. It was just mentioned initially, and since then some users are claiming it's a way to downplay the issue. That's just not what it is.

The problem is every time the topic comes up on the internet that semantic word play comes up. And I really have to wonder why. We all know when you go to court lawyers call day "night" and night "day". I would never presume to know what the correct legal term is for anything. The average person on the street though knows exactly what is meant when you say someone stole my music from the internet. You may have just been making a technical point but tons of people use that word play to somehow make illegally downloading and sharing files seem less bad than stealing a magazine.

You do realize that a lot of magazines are sold on consignment. That means that if a store doesn't sell all the magazines at the end of the month they don't have to pay for them and in fact they just shred them and toss them in a dumpster behind the store. So if you shop lift a magazine that they were going to throw away anyway (ie has zero economic value) you will get arrested for "theft." If you download a number one song (it has economic value) you probably won't get arrested and it will not be considered "theft." Does that make any sense? See why going around the internet having that semantic argument rubs people the wrong way?

 

[Chregu]

The problem is every time the topic comes up on the internet that semantic word play comes up. And I really have to wonder why. We all know when you go to court lawyers call day "night" and night "day". I would never presume to know what the correct legal term is for anything. The average person on the street though knows exactly what is meant when you say someone stole my music from the internet. You may have just been making a technical point but tons of people use that word play to somehow make illegally downloading and sharing files seem less bad than stealing a magazine.

I agree with everything you are saying here.

You do realize that a lot of magazines are sold on consignment. That means that if a store doesn't sell all the magazines at the end of the month they don't have to pay for them and in fact they just shred them and toss them in a dumpster behind the store. So if you shop lift a magazine that they were going to throw away anyway (ie has zero economic value) you will get arrested for "theft." If you download a number one song (it has economic value) you probably won't get arrested and it will not be considered "theft." Does that make any sense? See why going around the internet having that semantic argument rubs people the wrong way?

I don't agree here. At least to my knowledge, in many countries the penalties for downloading music is much higher than for stealing a magazine.

 

[fatclue_98]

I'm very sorry and this may be my fault, but I still don't think you're answering the question. Perhaps you did and I missed it? Given that your ISP doesn't contribute to the costs of running this site, and that the *deeply* respected moderators and writers here need to eat, is it justifiable to use an ad blocker and remove their source of income?



If I'm male, I will ignore your uncalled-for affront, and if I'm female, I will laugh knowingly to myself and move on. But maybe you can elaborate on why you had to remove the labels? Were they sticking up out of the back of your trousers? Did they say 'property of the prison service' or 'boil wash only at 90C'? Did they get very smelly?

The question has been asked and answered, pay attention. If I have to explain why underwear tags bother me, you're obviously too young to understand given the way labels are placed nowadays.

 

[Chregu]

We don't have to contribute to this site's costs because the site administrator doesn't require it. There's nothing to justify. If they needed help there would be a "donate" button somewhere for us to contribute.

I have never seen a "donate" button on Microsoft Corporation either.

 

[anony_mouse]

We don't have to contribute to this site's costs because the site administrator doesn't require it. There's nothing to justify. If they needed help there would be a "donate" button somewhere for us to contribute.

Ah thank you! That's more like it - some answer vaguely related to my question. You're right of course that this site does not require you to see ads. You are entirely at liberty not to do so! Nevertheless, I hope you will extend your heartfelt thanks to all those people who don't use an ad blocker and do help to pay for the site. Perhaps you could do something nice for them? And also, of course, for the journalists and technies who work on this site, which you enjoy ad-free.

 

[Reflexx]

Remind me again, what does that have to do with the price of tea in China? Using AdBlock is nowhere near the same as piracy. No more than ripping the tag off my underwear.


Sent from my iPhone using WPCentral Forums

In some instances, ad blocking is worse. These are content providers that rely on a particular revenue model. Ad blocking is pretty much an attempt to get the benefits of a service without allowing for revenue generation.

​There really isn't an excuse of "I can't afford it" with ad blocking.

 

[fatclue_98]

Ah thank you! That's more like it - some answer vaguely related to my question. You're right of course that this site does not require you to see ads. You are entirely at liberty not to do so! Nevertheless, I hope you will extend your heartfelt thanks to all those people who don't use an ad blocker and do help to pay for the site. Perhaps you could do something nice for them? And also, of course, for the journalists and technies who work on this site, which you enjoy ad-free.

I don't enjoy anything ad-free. Until this thread, I had no idea what AdBlock was, but I quickly educated myself. Ads may be irritating, but I won't pay to not have to see them. After 45 years in this country, I don't know anything but commercials. They bother me no more than a late afternoon thunderstorm in Miami. In other words, I'm used to it and immune from it.

 

[Reflexx]

^ Very simple, I already pay for my ISP. How Mobile Nations conducts their business is no business of mine. As for my undies, I just developed that habit very young in life when many ladies saw what brand I wore. Didn't make any money from it but the fringe benefits were awesome.
Sent from my Ativ S Neo using Tapatalk

​That's like someone saying they pay for XBOX LIVE, so they should be able to pirate the games.

 

[anony_mouse]

The question has been asked and answered, pay attention. If I have to explain why underwear tags bother me, you're obviously too young to understand given the way labels are placed nowadays.

I assume you are referring to this statement? "As for my undies, I just developed that habit very young in life when many ladies saw what brand I wore. Didn't make any money from it but the fringe benefits were awesome." (if not, please let me know which I should look at)

For me, that doesn't fully answer the question. It appears that you removed to tag to prevent any ladies from finding out what brand of underwear you wore. The curious reader will immediately wish to know why you felt the need to do this - hence my follow up questions.

 

[fatclue_98]

​That's like someone saying they pay for XBOX LIVE, so they should be able to pirate the games.

Not at all. You pay for the access, not the games. When you go to the ball park, do you expect the beer & hot dogs to be free?

 

[anony_mouse]

I don't enjoy anything ad-free. Until this thread, I had no idea what AdBlock was, but I quickly educated myself. Ads may be irritating, but I won't pay to not have to see them. After 45 years in this country, I don't know anything but commercials. They bother me no more than a late afternoon thunderstorm in Miami. In other words, I'm used to it and immune from it.

Then I apologise! I am truly and deeply sorry for any offence caused. I am sure you will now join me in asking those who do use ad blockers when viewing this site to dig deep into their pockets and give something back to the community (i.e. you and me) and those who rely on this site for their living. Scroll up the thread to see their names!

 

[Reflexx]

What cracks me up here is that people who choose to pirate software,knowingly use pirated software,think it's perfectly fine to do so,then they take umbrage when folks like myself point out that it is theft when they do this.

Others here apparently don't know the difference between stealing and exercising their rights in blocking adds in their phones and continue to try to cloud the subject of hand.

Tell you what....let's ask the management here what their take on this issue is,and see what they say about it..

You make the mistake of thinking that people who disagree with you support piracy.

I certainly don't.

However, it's a reality that companies like MS have to deal with. And it is in MS's best interest to look the other way if a person in a 3rd world country pirates a product that they never would have been able to afford otherwise. It's not even a matter of saving up. They would not be able to buy it unless they were recklessly stupid with how they care for their family.

Why is it in their best interest? Because that creates demand for their product in the workplace. It creates trained users, which encourages businesses to use MS products.

I'm sure Mobile Nations also takes into account people who use ad blockers and such in order to circumvent their revenue model. But in the case of ad blocking, those "customers" really don't have an excuse of not being able to afford to look at ads.

Why do you think that advertisements have to be integrated into the news feed?

 

[fatclue_98]

I assume you are referring to this statement? "As for my undies, I just developed that habit very young in life when many ladies saw what brand I wore. Didn't make any money from it but the fringe benefits were awesome." (if not, please let me know which I should look at)

For me, that doesn't fully answer the question. It appears that you removed to tag to prevent any ladies from finding out what brand of underwear you wore. The curious reader will immediately wish to know why you felt the need to do this - hence my follow up questions.

No, I was referring to the AdBlock question.

You have a disturbing obsession with my underwear. Although I was quite the promiscuous type in the late 70s and early 80s, I am quite happily married and monogamous now. Put on some Fruit of the Loom from that period and you'll know why the labels had to go quickly.

 

[Citizen X]

I don't agree here. At least to my knowledge, in many countries the penalties for downloading music is much higher than for stealing a magazine.

To be honest with you in all the western countries I've lived in they don't even enforce laws against downloading for practical reasons. What people get in trouble for is facilitating the sharing. When you use something like bitorrent downloading the song or movie may not be illegal. What is illegal is you uploading pieces of that song or movie to hundreds or possibly thousands of people.

The reason for this is because if a record label came after you all you would have to do is go to a record store and buy the CD in question and say I already own the CD and just wanted an MP3 of it. Nothing illegal with that. How are they to prove when you bought the CD or DVD?

Go back and look at all the cases you are thinking about. I guarantee the person got busted because they were using some kind of peer to peer software that was uploading to other people... or they had a server that facilitated such activity. And most of the time small fries get in CIVIL trouble for their file sharing activities where as with shoplifting that is always handled in the CRIMINAL courts.

 

[Reflexx]

When your intellectual property is stolen you won't be delving into such semantics. You will want a cash payment... the same as anyone who's property has been stolen.

...and that's called copyright infringement.

You act as if Chergu has stated that it's somehow ethical to pirate. He never made such a claim at all. In fact, he's stated the opposite.

 

[Reflexx]

I don't want to make a big deal out of it. It was just mentioned initially, and since then some users are claiming it's a way to downplay the issue. That's just not what it is.

It's very similar in my eyes.

I do neither because they are both ethically wrong.

​

 

[Reflexx]

We don't have to contribute to this site's costs because the site administrator doesn't require it. There's nothing to justify. If they needed help there would be a "donate" button somewhere for us to contribute.

The site was based on a revenue model that displays ads. It's part of the package of the site.

The fact that they still let you use it without spending time and energy trying to detect ad blockers doesn't change the fact. It's just part of business. They understand some users will circumvent the model by using ad blockers just like MS understands that people in 3rd world countries may pirate their products. It's not worth the time and energy to pursue.

 

[Reflexx]

Could we stop the underwear talk. You're all freaking me out. lol

 

[Reflexx]

Not at all. You pay for the access, not the games. When you go to the ball park, do you expect the beer & hot dogs to be free?

And with websites, with the access, come ads.

The act of blocking the payment method for access is like finding a way to get those hot dogs for free. Walk into the back door and grab some.