Downloadable retail needed?

[B0rsuk]

Gandalf Parker said:
Keeping it clear that piracy is theft tends to do the most good there.

I don't see how spreading FUD can be good. Piracy is copyright infringement. Theft is the act of taking something from someone unlawfully. When I take something from someone, he loses it. That's not the case with unathorised copying. You can argue about lost sales, but you can't prove anything, especially exact numbers. Movie critics should be put to jail, too, because they often cause much more lost sales to movie theaters. Software piracy is a crime with no victim, especially if the pirate is simply not able to purchase the thing.

It's not just money. In Poland, for example, online (abroad) payments are really hard to perform. Banks set prohibitive prices and require extra paperwork. It took me months to find a colleague whose father has a 'good enough' credit card. Not because I'm too young (22), but because it's a lot of beaurocracy and extra fees.
One thing piracy bashers consistently fail to mention is that vast majority of software pirates (especially gamers) are 13-17 years old. When you're older, studying, working (or both, like me) you don't have as much time for games. Guess what, you can't have a credit card if you're <18.

Piracy can work as a sort of advertisment, too.
And I think it was our beloved Bill who said he'd rather have people pirate windows than use linux. Charming, eh ?

[Gandalf Parker]

B0rsuk said:

I don't see how spreading FUD can be good. Piracy is copyright infringement. Theft is the act of taking something from someone unlawfully. When I take something from someone, he loses it. That's not the case with unathorised copying.

I dont think that holds up but fine, change it to being illegal then. The thing is that most of the losses being avoided are by legal owners copying software for good friends (called casual copying) so most of the efforts to fight it are simple copy protection and clarity of the crime. Piracy isnt as big a subject, nor as big a crime effort as most people think. Also, this isnt an open enough forum to discuss piracy. Join me in the alt.hackers newsgroup (I host their site) and we can discuss it more.

You can argue about lost sales, but you can't prove anything, especially exact numbers.

Guess what, you can't have a credit card if you're <18.

Piracy can work as a sort of advertisment, too.

Im older than computers. Ive been on the internet since before it was the internet. Ive heard all the argruments and seen all of the data. It doesnt amount to much.
(where can you not have a credit card if you are under 18?)

[reverend]

Gandalf Parker said:
where can you not have a credit card if you are under 18?

As far as I'm informed most European banks would only give you a credit card once you're past 18 and have a job.

[Gandalf Parker]

Hmm in the US anyone can get a credit card. Of course if you are under 18 and have to get your parents to sign for everything and they refuse, or you have zero credit rating, it might seem impossible but that doesnt mean there is a rule about it. Under those conditions anyone would have trouble getting a card but age has nothing to do with it. Just say your broke.

[Cainehill]

Eh, I once had a wonderful friend named Tho (The Homeless One) who went to college at 15. Never mind that life was a major struggle for her at that point (good looking / mature enough to be attractive to most guys/some girls, too young to drink or date them, too young to be taken seriously once people learned her age). Thing was, she was a college student at 15. Got about 10 pre-approved credit card offers, didn't require parental approval, income verification, anything. She was a bit more mature than most, didn't ruin her life with them - but imagine the ones like her that did.