The New Type of Thief

So there's this article on how Avatar broke all Blu-Ray sales records... and also pirating sales records.

Tom's Hardware article

Now, there's a strange and disconcerting trend among many of the savvy PC users these days. Put simply, they have an entitlement complex. They reason that if they don't like the product (whether it be movies, music, game, software), they shouldn't have to pay for it. And the only way they would know before they purchase that product... is to pirate it. In some twisted way, they justify it in their minds.

What a load of crap. Perhaps I'm taking more offense at this type of attitude than usual because soon, I will be part of the group of people that produce these things, as well as consume them. And it's going to hurt people like me, and many of my friends. That's firstly.

As for dismantling the flawed logic these self-centered geeks have, it's simple: we can use any other type of product for this example, so let's use food. By their logic, one should be able to walk into any restaurant, and eat for free. And if at the end of their entire meal, if they didn't think the meal was worth the price listed, they could simply walk out the door without paying. If they somehow thought it was good enough, they would pay. Does this in any way sound reasonable? What about clothing ("it didn't get me enough dates, I don't think i'm going to pay for this shirt"), jewelry ("this didn't have the luster I thought it would, I'll just keep it for free"), anything.

Pirating is stealing. It's simple as that. Why these people have an easier time justifying it is because it's all so out of sight, out of mind. They download the media, and it's there. It doesn't feel like stealing to them. It's the same thing as walking into a local Best Buy, picking up a few movies, putting them under your shirt, and walking out the door. And maybe out of the 4 movies they steal, if they would like 1... would they really walk back to the store the next day, and say, "Hey I stole this movie yesterday, and it was actually pretty good. So, here's the money. Thanks!"

It's unbelievable. Of course, I'm sure everyone at one point or another has been tempted, or even done a little downloading of a song or two. But the normal person would feel at least some kind of remorse for it. It's the community of people with this twisted sense of entitlement that bother me. I mean, I have downloaded stuff, but it's pretty much TV show episode that I have missed, something I can see for free on Hulu or on television. And even then, I sometimes feel bad. I don't understand how these people continue not only to do what they do, but then spout this nonsense as if they have a right to do it.