Shocked by our community's response to piracy
I'm really, really shocked at some of the responses I got to my blog entry about the piracy of Doom 3. I guess I'd go as far as to say that I'm disappointed.
The people that tried to justify it or downplay it I assume aren't kids that don't know life without the Internet, and even more disturbing, many presumably write software for a living.
Some people make a distinction between physical goods and software, and try to make the claim that it doesn't hurt anyone. Others say that the price of these intangible goods are frequently a reason for piracy, as if to cite some kind of moral justification. Like I said, people have the right to create something and be compensated for their work. It's not more complicated than that. If it's too expensive, then you don't buy it and use it. Let normal market forces determine the success or failure of a product. What's “fair“ doesn't even factor into it. If you freeload off of work that I did, and I find out, I'm going to sue your ass into oblivion. It's not your right to decide what's “right,“ you either pay for the product or you don't get to use it.
If you think that owning something means having something tangible, can I have all of your money in the bank? Because it's not tangible, it's just a number in a computer, kind of like software.
I especially loved the comment that kids stealing the game might buy it anyway. I've never read a more naive comment than that.