Theft still took place. You're probably still getting paid. Maybe it got taken up by insurance and everyone's premium goes up a tiny fraction, maybe it got taken up by the bank or by your business.

It's still an incomplete analogy but it's a little bit closer.

That's not to say that the vast majority of piracy isn't people who wouldn't pay anyway. And back in the day, you certainly got more visibility in your games from people who were pirating.

But now that advertising is on its toes and steam exists, I won't think they're getting any serious benefit from piracy and I don't think that they're not losing At least modest numbers of sales.

[–] taco@piefed.social 20 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

I am 100% down for sailing the high seas. But let's not sugarcoat it, this analogy is always been kind of crap.

It's less an analogy than the literal legal definition of theft.

Somebody went to your mailbox took out your paycheck, made a copy of it, put the original back in your box, went to the bank and cashed it.

This analogy is crap. When they took your paycheck, that was theft. Even if temporarily, you didn't have the check. If they cash the fraudulent check, they're not copying the money; it's coming out of your account. That's also theft. Both cases, the original is being removed, whether it be the physical check or the money from your account. The only reason there might be a "copy" in your analogy is some sort of fraud protection by the bank, at which point it's the bank's money getting stolen. Still theft though.

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 5 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Theft is more than just physically removing a non-fungible item. Depriving owed earnings is also considered theft, hence why piracy is considered theft because there is a debt owed for the pirated media. If you believe in wage theft, then you believe in IP theft.

[–] piccolo@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Depriving owed earnings is also considered theft.

I mean, so is not buying or pirating something... wait i better not give them any ideas.

[–] sqgl@sh.itjust.works 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Do I need to need to pay for the IP of your idea?

[–] piccolo@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

If you aim to make significant profit with it. Yes. Otherwise i had nothing to lose to begin with.

[–] taco@piefed.social 1 points 3 weeks ago

hence why piracy is considered theft because there is a debt owed for the pirated media

This is objectively false in any meaningful way. It's certainly not considered theft (at least in the US), and there's absolutely no debt owed for pirated media (unless you count seeding it forward).

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