If buying isn't owning, then piracy isn't theft.
this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2025
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Piracy already isn't theft. At worst, it's unlicensed copying. Conflating copying, where the original is not lost, to theft, where it is, should never have been done and was only ployed by the big companies to make it sound worse than it is.
From God's lips, to mine ear.
But didn't you hear? They have a NEW version now!!
It is totally faster and has radical flames!
It is fundamentally a theft of the autonomy, self determinism, and right to unfiltered information required for citizens in a functioning democracy. Loss of ownership is fundamentally a coup against democracy by overlords of neo feudalism.
Frame your argument as a citizen wronged by thieves and you will defeat the nonsense. Ownership of any part of your person including your digital presence to exploit and manipulate is a form of modern slavery; literally buying and selling people to manipulate and exploit them. Anything that has any potential to filter information, no matter how remote, unlikely, or illegal, is an act of treason in a real democracy when it lacks full transparency. Every digital device you use must be fully publicly documented with a publicly accessible toolchain for anyone to monitor or review. Trust as a policy is fundamentally opposed to democracy without exceptions. Trust is a trap of authoritarianism. Citizens are required to be fully informed and skeptical of all sources. For example, every mobile device made has a proprietary SoC processor and modem that are interconnected in undocumented ways. There is absolutely no way to know who or what is truly connected to these devices at any point in time. This is the real reason removable batteries no longer exist despite being more dangerous, wasteful, and an environmental disaster.
This is why all mobile programs have unlimited data and texting. Can't have you going dark on us.
Your free trial of the Clock application has ended.
Today you can't start your car because you have no credits left.
laughs in bicycle
Government uses bike path toll to great affect.
Bike path toll? That sounds made up.
Everythings made up, and the lives don't matter.
This should have been legislated against years ago.
Do I have to remind you how lucky you are to have a fridge!? Back to work, or they will unplug your internet!
What? Whose gone to jail for thinking that they own a product they've bought?
Bricked switches come to mind, John Deere was trying to make self-repair illegal. Can't be long before someone decides users don't deserve their device.
would you like to come over and watch a movie at my home theatre ?
i only charge one dollar for free all you can eat popcorn, a comfy chair, 12 foot screen, and huge sound system.
ignore the FBI warning after I press play.
Pirated movies are not something you've paid for. And watching DVDs with friends is not "illegal exhibition."
i don't pirate movies. i buy dvds.
and charging people a buck to watch "my dvd", though, is illegal up to $250,000 fine and five years in prison
edit: and no i do not do this
So your issue isn’t that you don’t actually own the DVDs you paid for, but rather that you’re not allowed to run an unlicensed cinema.
I wonder what the "license" part of "unlicensed cinema" is. Could it... Could it just maybe have something to do with... Not actually owning the things you buy, and therefore requiring a license?
Well, let’s use my photography as an example then. Do you think it’s perfectly okay if someone buys prints from me, sets up an art show displaying my pictures, and charges people money to see it - without my permission or offering me any compensation?
You sold them your prints, didn't you? They're not allowed to claim any ownership over the art of your photography, but they still are owners of the print they bought.
That's not what I asked.
Gary Bowser got fucked by Nintendo for doing shit to a device he bought. Got sentenced for nearly 4 years, now owes like $15m
For selling hacking tools - not for modifying their personal device.
i.e. Helping others modify their own devices
You're splitting hairs
You're moving the goalposts. The claim was that people are going to jail for "thinking they own a product they paid for." Your example has nothing to do with that.