Probably the right choice for them. It is unworkable to attempt to enforce laws which make no sense and never see the bright lights of a courtroom. Being able to positively identify an original file at the binary level to be the same as a copy is impossible. As I'll be getting 1GB fibre soon, this is good news to me ) I've been recording music off the radio for years... Ninja edit: Can the other international Guru's here post what the laws are in their country? Be interesting to compare and contrast.
Great news, and a healthy step forward. Trying to police the internet is flushing money away, this is the best way to handle it.
Now if we can get rid of the website blocks they put in place. Edit, nope, porn block is still going strong, so they can just file the websites under that. http://rt.com/uk/173552-porn-filters-advisor-charged/ Although i'm not seeing what has changed recently for it to make the news again http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/09/uks_freetardnagging_vcap_wont_have_penalties_report/ http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-27330150
In the US, it's a civil matter as long as you're not caught selling pirated material. The government, at the behest of the music and movie industry, has attempted to make it a criminal act but thus far attempts (SOPA and PIPA) have failed.
Well sharing is illegal so using torrents is illegal. One must not download porn cause that is the ultimate evil that gets people.
Its hilarious, what a waste of cash, god knows how its going to persuade people to stop, everyones just laughing at em
Thats not decriminalising piracy as that is still technically and literally illegal. Its just they don't do anything about it cause they can't stopped it effectively. I wonder if this is just a smokescreen to the rushed DRIP by creating noises on other aspect and use it to 'tighten up' it by introducing new DMCA etc.
File sharing isn't illegal. Sharing copyrighted material without the consent of the copyright holder is illegal. Torrents aren't just used for sharing copyrighted material. They're also used for legitimate purposes that are perfectly legal.
Yes I know but 99% use torrents for different purposes. And while we were talking about piracy. Sharing is illegal. Kind of assumed copyrighted material was the field.
Yes. Exactly. Blizzard's patching system is run through torrents. 99% is quite high...and a baseless assumption.
Whilst I have in the past pirated all thre main forms of meida from games, filmes, and music. I am one of those people who, if I like something I shall buy it if I don't I have no need for it and I shall uninstall or delete it from my computer. Also there are a lot of people who download games in particular that download them to see if they will run on their computers. As a lot of developers come out and say stupid things that gets people scared. Such as The Witcher 3, the developers have said "Get ready to upgrade your rig". Or GTAIV when it came out Rockstar said no PC for 1.5 years will be able to max it out. Then there is of course Crysis and we all know about that. I have done that in the past my self, downloaded a game installed it, run through a couple of levels to see if it runs nice on my hardware if it does and I like the game I have instantly uninstalled it, deleted the iso, and brought the legitimate copy. I mean, whatever happend to FREE demos!!!???? Now its preorder incentives which gets people access to Alpha and Beta's (which 99% of the time is not really a beta!). I think a law should be passed for all forms of DIGITAL media whereby you can't get refund or an exchange for, that it should be made law that ALL games (movies and music too) should have a FREE demo or even a timed trail period. This would let people try a few levels out of a game and if they want to they can then buy the whole thing. Relying on reviews, screenshots, and trailers is not good enough when 99% of the time it all comes down to personal taste (and hardware with PC games). We also need MUCH MUCH lower cinema prices! I went to see the new Robocop movie and for me and my girlfriend it cost me £25 (thats for 2 tickets and 1 medium drink that we shared!) the film is not even in 3D (which would of cost around £4 more and then you have to pay for the glasses on top of that as well! People can say the high prices is because not a lot of people go to the cinema and are just downloading them but if we had cheaper prices at the cinema then more people would go and not pirate a stupid CAM copy.
+1 Try -> buy/delete method works. I've read about various studies showing that people who actually download a lot of semi-legal stuff, are more likely to buy the actual thing. Also, there are some countries where piracy level was pretty bad, and adjustments in pricing made it better + the ease of access is the key. If you have an easy access to media, you're more likely to buy it. Be it games, movies, books, tv series - if you can get it legally without moving from chair, you're more likely to pay for that. Actually the best case scenario is when the price is right and it's easier to get from legal sources than illegal ones. Also, if the content is high-quality, it justifies the purchase.
I used to do the "try before you buy" method like you. Always felt like it saved time/money in the long term because I wasn't buying games/software that I didn't like or really had no use for. These days, I tend to look for free alternatives for software and I rarely buy a game because more often than not they disappoint me. As for movies, the last time my wife and I went to the theater, it was around $50 for 2 tickets + drinks and popcorn. It's a complete ripoff.