Piracy

[Sarah]

will NEVER BE STOPPED!!!!

[Sarah]

The best thing ever to happen to the music/software industry. The customer's way of telling the [corporate whore] fatcats that they're charging us too much for low-quality [shit].

[Sarah]

Old usage: the act of sailing around on a huge boat with a bunch of other guys (all of whom most likely are missing either one of their legs, hands, or eyes) and raiding spanish galleons up and down whatever coast you happen to be on. This action usually involves a lot of town pillaging, treasure looting, booty stealing, cutlass weilding, ARRR! yelling, parrot having, musket shooting, rum drinking, accordion playing, cannon cannoning, and buggery.
New usage: the act of stealing music, movies, unlicensed software, etc off of the internet. Usually done through a variety of [p2p] clients. This practice is of course denounced by the industry and they have launched a campaign of legal action and anti-piracy media featuring the likes of [M E Hart] aimed at destroying piracy, but all indications as of now are that it will survive.
In both cases, piracy is awesome.

[Sarah]

Becoming a very serious crime according to authorities because they arent

[Sarah]

I want Windows. I get Windows.
I want Max. I get Max.
I want lotr. I get lotr.

Then I go install linux

[Sarah]

Something that enables millions of people to learn and use software you would never have bought for the retail price. Something people in the sw industry don't take into account...

[Sarah]

Originally, piracy was a form of theft, when it referred to the practice of robbing on the high seas, and arguably even when it referred to the harmful practice of copying copyrighted products and selling them, ripping off the developers of the products.
Nowadays, it's a synonym for 'copyright infringement', which is not the same thing as theft. Copying in moderation may well benefit the industries in many circumstances as it increases public awareness of the industries and individual products; it's the mass copying initiatives, and the counterfeit sales, that are most likely eroding sales.
In cracking down on 'piracy' the copyright police are using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, and in pissing off loyal customers with intrusive 'copy protection systems', the concept of copyright law and the relevant industries are giving themselves a bad name.

[Sarah]

A Catalyst for change.

The theft of ones personal property for reselling to profit.

Originating from early sailors called [pirates] who plundered other vessels for their goods. Todays, pirates are known also as [downloaders] and/or [hackers] (as the news media would have the general public think). Frowned upon by society, piracy has become rampant in scale via the [internet] and has forced authorities to arrest and prosecute the very same thing people have been doing with [printing press], [vcr] and [tape recorder] since the 1920s.

[Sarah]

Image you could had anything you wanted for free, anywhere, anytime, as much as you want, pissing off corporative sluts in the process, without needing a gun.

Now imagine you are not a spoiled rich kid like in the above example and you didn't had to ask your fathers for everything, but instead, just turning up your computer and getting a p2p program, that's Piracy baby, it's illegal since they can't tax you.

[Sarah]

to prevent intellectual

[Rihanna]

When someone installs and uses commercial software without paying for the program, it is called pirating the software. This name comes from the traditional meaning of the word pirate, which is a sea-faring criminal that steals and loots belongings from others. But far from the stereotypical sea pirate, a software pirate can be anyone who owns a computer. Software piracy is committed by simply downloading or copying a program that a user has not paid for.
Since computer programs are stored in a digital format, they are easy to copy and reproduce. For example, a game may be burned to a CD and transferred to the computer of an individual who has not paid for the program. Software programs can also be illegally downloaded from the Internet from unauthorized sources. Since pirating software does not require many resources, it has grown into a major problem for the computer industry.
While it may seem like an innocuous act, pirating software is the same as stealing. Software companies often invest thousands or even millions of dollars into creating the programs they sell. The income from selling these programs is what allows companies to produce the software and to continue improving the programs we use. Just because it is possible to copy a software program does not mean it is OK. Installing a commercial program from an illegal copy is the same thing as walking out of a store with the program and not paying for it.
While there are some programs that are free to use (such as shareware and freeware programs), it is important to pay for commercial software. You can avoid software piracy by only downloading software from authorized sources and making sure that you have valid software licenses for all the programs you use. Remember that paying for software programs supports the software industry, which is good for all of us!