This is just hilarious. So in the long run they'll be able to take down torrent sites in the US. Big friggen deal. It still doesn't mean squat to the end user and in the long run they'll never be able to bust newsgroups!



People are going to steal software. There is no stoping it.

I'd like to see them try.LOL!!!!!!!!!!

huh.

i heard once that pirating activities funded terrorist groups. it sounds absurd and all... kinda like a childhood scare from your mom about the boogeyman... "don't sleep too late or the boogeyman will get you" "don't pirate games or else terrorists will have enough money to put a bomb in your bus"



totally absurd but... shrug... you never know. i don't entirely believe it, but i don't entirely dismiss it as totally impossible either.



anyways. i agree with you ISOhaven. (ironic as your username sounds heheehe!) try as they might, piracy is just everywhere. indeed, the world may or may not be a better place with or without piracy, but fact remains, there's no stopping it.

>> "Intellectual property is the backbone of the U.S. technology economy. "



It's amazing that they don't recognize: THAT'S A PROBLEM. You don't want your economic backbone to be something that's easily copied, reverse-engineered, and IMAGINARY.



Technology *services* and *products* should be the backbone of our economy. The next thing you know, it will be illegal to teach tech skills to your kids without paying "Intellectual property" royalties to the business where you learned them.

ISOhaven, you forget... pirating isn't just limited to downloading files and torrents etc etc... in other countries pirating is rampant in the form of selling fake/copied/pirated CDs, DVDs... movies, games, music, etc...



pirated discs in your country may be passe now because of digital means, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen elsewhere in the world. and in those places where disc piracy is rampant, there IS money and strong business to make. i should know. i live in a third world country. people buy pirated discs like crazy. also... some enterprising individuals have actually made it a business to "sell" games they've downloaded free online.



"got a psp? here, let's downgrade it. cfw and all that. pay up. i'll even load games into your memstick. here's a list. choose whichever you want, then we can hook your unit to the pc and load it in." some people get to sell a psp game for about a dollar or two. doesn't seem like a lot, but i tell you... there IS money in piracy.



then maybe you're asking... "well that's stupid, why don't the people know they're being ripped off?"



well. it's simple, really. the person "buys" into piracy because:



a) they don't know better. they're ignorant and don't know how to download and all that. they don't know that these guys selling psp games etc etc actually got them for free online. or....

b) they might not have the resources (for example, no internet connection at home) to download those games. or....

c) they don't have the time to download those games or movies. so... they're willing to spend a buck or two to purchase a disc or to load a game on a memstick. it's hassle-free cuz you don't have to wait for a download to finish. just pop in, purchase, pop out, and you're done.



and that my friend is piracy here in my country. the money that people spend to buy pirated stuff... is supposedly being funded to terrorist groups.

if thats the dumbest thing you've ever heard, you havent been reading QJ posts very long

:)

@Mister Common Sense



ISOHaven is only compensating for his own use, not everyone else's. That said, it is a bit too honest (no offense ISOH) lol!

A frightening thought indeed...

Oh wait, we already do that. It's called "college" and "technical certification."

@tigger - True, countries like Hong Kong are rappent with pirated CDs floating around. But then again, look at the individuals selling. The terrorists are AGAINST them as well. So that doesn't quit fit. I doubt there are many New Yorkers selling movie DVDs on the streets of New York in order to fund another plane that will most likely kill them. I was targeting online "hidden" identities that are getting money from people. The countless sites that are selling Vista Ultimate for $50 are really only taking your CC# and going to town with it.



@Mister Common Dounche Bag - As usual you are an idiot!



1. By my buying the game I am SUPPORTING the author.

2. When someone buys the used game, they were going to buy a USED game anyway. You act as if my used copy is the ONLY one on the shelf and because they saw it, they changed their mind to buy IT instead of a NEW copy. That's just plan ignorance.



@Xastabus - I don't see your point. If I sold the game on eBay then I would be making eBay richer and putting less money in my pocket. That sounds like dumb business sense to me. The awesome thing about Gamestop is I can skip having to relist an item OVER AND OVER again, getting ripped off by people who don't pay, shipping charges, listing fees, having to buy shipping materials....the list goes on and on. The only difference here is instead of keeping the game for a few weeks I'm selling it back right away.



So unless someone has a problem with selling to Gamestop in general, this is no different.

60 dollars a game is actually a hell of a lot of money for most people.

This does not justify piracy but it does not help avert it either.

Many people I know in Europe actually have 2 xboxes as this is the easist and most economical way of enjoying games. Those games that are downloaded and then played on a modded box come for free. Those games that are truly great and people want to play online purchase the real thing.

whos going to Canada with me?

If the games companies would produce good quality games instead of utter ***** they try and ram down our throats, I'd say they'd have much more success.



There's a whole bunch of games for the NES, SNES and Megadrive (defunct systems) that still command a high price for original copies (even though you can download them all very easily now) simply because they're so *****ing good.



The moment games companies by and large got lazy and produced crap to cash in on the market rather than invest in QUALITY is the moment they lost the pirate war I think.



Because when you burn your customers over and over again, they lose confidence in your product. People will be more willing to cross the moral line on pirating because they don't trust you're going to give them decent value for their gaming dollar and whilst you can debate morale virtue until the cows come home, at the end of the day it's a damn business transaction and you cannot blame the screwed over customer for being cynical and jaded.



Just be a little more realistic about it. The days of using people's morals against them (ala "don't copy that floppy!") are long over.

@Galduke - WTF did any of that have to do with my post? Nothing I said had ANYTHING to do with the condition of a game disc.



Seriously, WTF went through your mind when you read my post?



"you don't buy a movie, burn it, and sell it used, it's still stealing"



No shlT sherlock! I'm not buying a game, burning it (keeping the copy) then selling the original used.



How the hell do you read A then walk away with B. The only other person on this site that has EVER done that is Mr. Common Douche Bag. Are you for real?



Since some of you can't understand plan English I guess I'll try again and this time I'll even fill in the parts that you should have picked up on in the first place.



For games I'm unsure about, I will download them. I will play them. If the game sucks I obviously stop playing it. If the game is good I play it through then go buy it then sell it. It's the EXACT same as playing a demo only I'm playing the actual game and don't have to start OVER AGAIN with the full version. Also, if I buy a game and find it's riddled with DRM, I put the original aside and go download a DRM free version.



Whomever - If you don't get it after that then you're an idiot. It has nothing to do with disc quality or keeping a COPY of the game. I only play games once anyway. I've never played through a game twice.

"here's what's going on"

The day you know what is going on is the day Earth stops spinning.



"One again the government blows our tax money"



WTF? Care to try that again? If you meant ONCE again then you're an idiot. The government has always mismanaged money. There's no "AGAIN" about it.



$10 an hour? That's pretty good! Get a roommate and you can live just about anywhere.



"Yes, they can spy on you now apparently. Shouldn't that be illegal?"

Nope! If you write all your private information on the face of an envelope is it illegal for a USPS employee to read it? NOPE! But it's illegal for them to OPEN your envelope. An ISP can legally VIEW any text you send their way. If you encrypt your data and they DECRYPT IT, that would be illegal. But I wouldn't expect you to know of such things.



"I will continue downloading IP protected content, because this is absolute BS!"

Yup, we all know you're a douche bag.

*cah* MegaUpload *cough cough*



Uhm...piracy is bad!

So, your response to my last comment is to say the exact same thing I said about you? Only you screwed up AS USUAL.



"You actually thing"



Could you be any more lame?