Chris Pirillo » piracy http://chris.pirillo.com News and Reviews! Geek, Internet Entrepreneur, Hardware Addict, Software Junkie, Book Author, Once TV Show Host, Technology Enthusiast, Shameless Self-Promoter, Tech Conference Coordinator, Early Adopter, Idea Evangelist, Tech Support Blogger, Bootstrapper, Media Personality, Technology Consultant, Thicker Quicker Picker Upper. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:58:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 © chris@pirillo.com () chris@pirillo.com() Geek, Internet Entrepreneur, Hardware Addict, Software Junkie, Book Author, Once TV Show Host, Technology Enthusiast, Shameless Self-Promoter, Tech Conference Coordinator, Early Adopter, Idea Evangelist, Tech Support Blogger, Bootstrapper, Media Personality, Technology Consultant, Thicker Quicker Picker Upper. chris@pirillo.com No no http://chris.pirillo.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpgChris Pirillohttp://chris.pirillo.com 144 144 What Would You Do With a Million Dollars?http://chris.pirillo.com/what-would-you-do-with-a-million-dollars/ http://chris.pirillo.com/what-would-you-do-with-a-million-dollars/#comments Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:10:55 +0000 Chris http://chris.pirillo.com/?p=15431 What Would You Do With a Million Dollars? is a post from Chris Pirillo

Over on Geeks today, people have been talking about what they’d do if they suddenly won a million dollars. It’s funny to read the answers, and touching as well. Many people would donate to charities, which I would do more of myself if I won that kind of money. I’d also invest plenty of it, in order to retire at an early age!

But we all know me, and we all know that I would be going on a massive Geeky shopping spree! There’s so many gadgets and USB gizmos out there that I don’t have yet!! Don’t lie – you know you’d be buying some, as well. So come on… tell us… what would you do if you had a cool million in your bank account?

I had a look through what’s new at our downloads site today. Holy cow there are some excellent pieces of software. Did you realize you can find everything from games to productivity software… for your Windows machine, your Mac AND your phone?

]]> What Would You Do With a Million Dollars? is a post from Chris Pirillo

Over on Geeks today, people have been talking about what they’d do if they suddenly won a million dollars. It’s funny to read the answers, and touching as well. Many people would donate to charities, which I would do more of myself if I won that kind of money. I’d also invest plenty of it, in order to retire at an early age!

But we all know me, and we all know that I would be going on a massive Geeky shopping spree! There’s so many gadgets and USB gizmos out there that I don’t have yet!! Don’t lie – you know you’d be buying some, as well. So come on… tell us… what would you do if you had a cool million in your bank account?

I had a look through what’s new at our downloads site today. Holy cow there are some excellent pieces of software. Did you realize you can find everything from games to productivity software… for your Windows machine, your Mac AND your phone?

]]> http://chris.pirillo.com/what-would-you-do-with-a-million-dollars/feed/ 4 MPAA 13, Piracy 0: Three More Allegedly Illicit Sites Suedhttp://chris.pirillo.com/mpaa-13-piracy-0-three-more-allegedly-illicit-sites-sued/ http://chris.pirillo.com/mpaa-13-piracy-0-three-more-allegedly-illicit-sites-sued/#comments Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:40:29 +0000 coupons http://chris.pirillo.com/?p=11323 MPAA 13, Piracy 0: Three More Allegedly Illicit Sites Sued is a post from Chris Pirillo

The Motion Picture Association of America has been working hard since 2007 to bring movie piracy to a halt. Wednesday, the MPAA filed suits against three more allegedly illicit movie web sites. This brings their total number of lawsuits to 13; though somewhat of a piecemeal approach, they have been successful in combating underground trade and winning by settlement or default judgment. Even though they have been successful, illegal downloading is even more prevalent than before.

There are other ways of getting a movie, people. Here’s a few:

  • Hulu.com – One of the best services to watch movies and television right on your computer. It’s legal, and it’s free. You can subscribe to shows and get email alerts when a new episode is posted.
  • Fancast.com – Their byline – “Watch full TV shows and Movies FREE online!” I couldn’t have said it better myself.
  • Joost.com – Wow, another FREE AND LEGAL place to watch movies and TV shows. This has a social feel to it, where you can get recommendations from others on what to watch.
  • Major TV Network sites – NBC, ABC, CBS, USA, FOX… you get the idea. They have their exclusive shows you can watch right online just like the other websites.

Let me make one thing very clear – movie piracy is a CRIME, and it is punishable by law.

On Monday, President Bush signed legislation creating a new cabinet position, the Copyright Czar. This office will be charged to create, implement and enforce plans to combat piracy and reports directly to the president. In addition, the MPAA is already lobbying President-Elect Obama to embrace Internet filtering that will automatically detect and remove copyright infringing content. Internet filtering is being embraced worldwide and it will not be long before these filters are in place throughout the Internet. What does this mean? A much higher chance of getting caught red-handed. Not fair, you say? A copyright infringement lawsuit is no walk in the park – more like your worst nightmare. Because of current US laws protecting copyright owners, you could face incarceration and hefty fines if found guilty.

What about fair use? Well, this is the criteria for “fair use” – you determine how you are using the works of others:

  • Is the new use of a commercial nature?
  • Did the new work harm the market of the original work?
  • Is the new work a parody?
  • How much content of the original was used?

Basically, if you are uploading a copy of a movie or other copyrighted work to the Internet as a torrent or onto a P2P or file-sharing network, you are infringing on copyrighted content. Piracy is a big reason that legitimate consumers pay higher prices for the same product. Do you still think that is fair?

What are your thoughts about fair use of copyrighted content? If you are copying movies, why?

]]> MPAA 13, Piracy 0: Three More Allegedly Illicit Sites Sued is a post from Chris Pirillo

The Motion Picture Association of America has been working hard since 2007 to bring movie piracy to a halt. Wednesday, the MPAA filed suits against three more allegedly illicit movie web sites. This brings their total number of lawsuits to 13; though somewhat of a piecemeal approach, they have been successful in combating underground trade and winning by settlement or default judgment. Even though they have been successful, illegal downloading is even more prevalent than before.

There are other ways of getting a movie, people. Here’s a few:

  • Hulu.com – One of the best services to watch movies and television right on your computer. It’s legal, and it’s free. You can subscribe to shows and get email alerts when a new episode is posted.
  • Fancast.com – Their byline – “Watch full TV shows and Movies FREE online!” I couldn’t have said it better myself.
  • Joost.com – Wow, another FREE AND LEGAL place to watch movies and TV shows. This has a social feel to it, where you can get recommendations from others on what to watch.
  • Major TV Network sites – NBC, ABC, CBS, USA, FOX… you get the idea. They have their exclusive shows you can watch right online just like the other websites.

Let me make one thing very clear – movie piracy is a CRIME, and it is punishable by law.

On Monday, President Bush signed legislation creating a new cabinet position, the Copyright Czar. This office will be charged to create, implement and enforce plans to combat piracy and reports directly to the president. In addition, the MPAA is already lobbying President-Elect Obama to embrace Internet filtering that will automatically detect and remove copyright infringing content. Internet filtering is being embraced worldwide and it will not be long before these filters are in place throughout the Internet. What does this mean? A much higher chance of getting caught red-handed. Not fair, you say? A copyright infringement lawsuit is no walk in the park – more like your worst nightmare. Because of current US laws protecting copyright owners, you could face incarceration and hefty fines if found guilty.

What about fair use? Well, this is the criteria for “fair use” – you determine how you are using the works of others:

  • Is the new use of a commercial nature?
  • Did the new work harm the market of the original work?
  • Is the new work a parody?
  • How much content of the original was used?

Basically, if you are uploading a copy of a movie or other copyrighted work to the Internet as a torrent or onto a P2P or file-sharing network, you are infringing on copyrighted content. Piracy is a big reason that legitimate consumers pay higher prices for the same product. Do you still think that is fair?

What are your thoughts about fair use of copyrighted content? If you are copying movies, why?

]]> http://chris.pirillo.com/mpaa-13-piracy-0-three-more-allegedly-illicit-sites-sued/feed/ 10 How Can We Wipe out Piracy?http://chris.pirillo.com/how-can-we-wipe-out-piracy-2/ http://chris.pirillo.com/how-can-we-wipe-out-piracy-2/#comments Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:11:40 +0000 Chris http://chris.pirillo.com/?p=7917 How Can We Wipe out Piracy? is a post from Chris Pirillo

Piracy is becoming more and more of a problem in today’s society at an alarming rate. Some people simply don’t feel the need to pay for what they want to watch or listen to, while others feel they should be allowed to download copies of media they’ve already purchased. Either way, it’s illegal folks… and it’s yourself that you’re hurting. As piracy grows, so does the cost of the media to the public. You may argue that it’s the artists and/or music/movie companies who you’re “sticking it” to. But in reality, it’s the consumers… just like yourself. I asked some of my friends what we can do to wipe out piracy once and for all.

Increase the number of ninjas? – Mattb4rd

No one can – Outsanity

Easy. Tell the big media corps to stop ripping people off and offer the media in formats and at prices people actually are willing to pay for. Problem solved. – Stephen Cropp via twhirl

I think thieves will always be around. I think the important thing is to be respectful of people who support what you are doing and are willing to, within reason, fund it. I’d buy two or three records a month at five dollars a piece. There is no reason for a DVD/BLU Ray/Download to ever be more than the price of a movie ticket. No piece of software should ever really cost more than 200 dollars, especially if your upgrades are paid. Make it easier to buy it than steal it. – Brian Norwood

Let’s work on double-posting first. – Josh Haley

I agree with Stephen. The reason people pirate is because something cost too much. – Outsanity

You’ll be hard-pressed to "wipe out" anything these days. – Josh Bancroft

quot;No piece of software should ever really cost more than 200 dollars" – why? There is software that will increase the bottom line of a corporation by millions of dollars… why only charge 200 for it? You are always balancing price, sales volume and piracy issues… a fixed ceiling isn’t going to change that. – Soulhuntre

Whatever they say on Slashdot most pirates are just plain thieves. They aren’t making a point, they aren’t hero’s of the revolution, they are not digital samurai. They are thieves. As such, nothing will ever wipe out piracy. These same people will go to enormous convolutions to try and explain why stealing a movie isn’t like stealing any other property – but it is. – Soulhuntre

People forget that piracy is no different than you buying the program and you lend me the CD and serial to put on my PC or lending me a DVD or album. So that means the government need to crack down on borrowing. – Outsanity

I think music on Amazon costs about what it should. They give me .mp3s for 8.99 to 9.99. That’s very reasonable. Anyone stealing music when they can get it that cheap is not going to buy music no matter what happens. – Andrew Burd

You simply can’t until services match the convenience of the current systems. And convenience means distributed in nature – not having to fire up iTunes. Amazon’s the closest – they just need an API so developers can build their own music stores on the web. You’ll get dedicated people who become digital DJs – finding all the good stuff. And in return for using Amazon’s platform instead of just linking an MP3, the DJs get referral credits (or cash incentives) from Amazon. – trextor

Indie musician should give away their tracks at lower quality (128kbs) for free on their personal site to build a fan base and charge for high quality (320kbs) tracks for the DJs to use. Then make money off of licensing royalties for commercial use. This strategy stops working once an artist would regularly sell more than about 50K copies of a track / album. – Erica Toelle

And obviously you should be allowed to stream the entire song before you buy, like on Last.fm. Such a platform would effectively kill radio and disrupt the profits they rake in from online streaming – which the music industry won’t be too happy with. Till this is a reality, people will just keep downloading and purchasing casually. – trextor

There will always be cheaters and thieves. Always. The point is to make it easy and convenient for the people who aren’t pirating. That’s how you combat piracy … by treating your true consumers right and not focusing on the few who are trying to ruin it for everybody. – tj hanton

We could make everything free. But it would probably me easier to just remove the damn DRM. Without DRM, more people would make legal purchases. – Bob Blunk

TJ is mostly correct. However, Piracy will cause a much larger shift in Software and Music copyright than simply changing how companies treat consumers. Music piracy is very clearly justifiable since most of the artists make little off CD sales and the majority of profit goes to Record Labels who are becoming outdated anyway. Theoretically an honest pirate community would allow software sharing and use it to check absurd pricing which happens quite often in the software industry. – Brandon Titus

Bob Blunk – there is no real data to support that proposition that I have seen and much practical information that contradicts it. – Soulhuntre

Outsanity – of course it’s different. When one person distributes an album to thousands of people via the internet (the pirate bay, vor example) it is radically different than you lending your friend an album. – Soulhuntre

Wasn’t the US founded on piracy though – wasn’t copyright on foreign works specifically excluded at one time? The other thing to do it stop corporations extending copyright forever, Disney makes a mint off The Brothers’ Grimm but campaigns for changes in the law to prevent it’s works going out of copyright. – Andy Davies

I think @Brian Norwood makes a good point: make buying it easier than pirating it. Or at least try. An example: a company shuts off their DRM servers and *poof* there goes all the music you purchased; the message that sends is "people who buy music are stupid". In this scenario, it is more viable to pirate than purchase. Purchasing music needs to be consumer friendly, not prohibitive. There will always be piracy, but at least make it viable for people who actually want to buy music to do so. – David Adam

Except of course the most recent message is that your purchases are safe. Yahoo is making good on their purchases last I hear with MP3 versions, credits at other stores or refunds – Soulhuntre

I think iTunes is the wrong system. Purchasing DRM music is not something I’ll do. However the ZunePass concept I love.. A small fee and I can get all the music I want and I feel like it’s a media subscription like Fios or Netflix. There is no implication of permanence. In exchange for this I can try out new bands and music at no risk and no incremental cost. If I want to "own" it I can buy MP3 versions. Best of both worlds. – Soulhuntre

When it comes to music, I really think anybody who resorts to piracy is a cheapskate. You can get Amazon mp3s with no DRM for a very reasonable price. It’s easy to do so. I think in terms of music, people need to take a step back and think: you’ll pay 3 dollars for a cup of coffee *every day* or go see a movie for $10, but an digital download of an album is too expensive? Sad, really. – Jason Kaneshiro

What do you think it will take to wipe out piracy? Is it even within the realm of possibility, or are we fighting a losing battle?

]]> How Can We Wipe out Piracy? is a post from Chris Pirillo

Piracy is becoming more and more of a problem in today’s society at an alarming rate. Some people simply don’t feel the need to pay for what they want to watch or listen to, while others feel they should be allowed to download copies of media they’ve already purchased. Either way, it’s illegal folks… and it’s yourself that you’re hurting. As piracy grows, so does the cost of the media to the public. You may argue that it’s the artists and/or music/movie companies who you’re “sticking it” to. But in reality, it’s the consumers… just like yourself. I asked some of my friends what we can do to wipe out piracy once and for all.

Increase the number of ninjas? – Mattb4rd

No one can – Outsanity

Easy. Tell the big media corps to stop ripping people off and offer the media in formats and at prices people actually are willing to pay for. Problem solved. – Stephen Cropp via twhirl

I think thieves will always be around. I think the important thing is to be respectful of people who support what you are doing and are willing to, within reason, fund it. I’d buy two or three records a month at five dollars a piece. There is no reason for a DVD/BLU Ray/Download to ever be more than the price of a movie ticket. No piece of software should ever really cost more than 200 dollars, especially if your upgrades are paid. Make it easier to buy it than steal it. – Brian Norwood

Let’s work on double-posting first. – Josh Haley

I agree with Stephen. The reason people pirate is because something cost too much. – Outsanity

You’ll be hard-pressed to "wipe out" anything these days. – Josh Bancroft

quot;No piece of software should ever really cost more than 200 dollars" – why? There is software that will increase the bottom line of a corporation by millions of dollars… why only charge 200 for it? You are always balancing price, sales volume and piracy issues… a fixed ceiling isn’t going to change that. – Soulhuntre

Whatever they say on Slashdot most pirates are just plain thieves. They aren’t making a point, they aren’t hero’s of the revolution, they are not digital samurai. They are thieves. As such, nothing will ever wipe out piracy. These same people will go to enormous convolutions to try and explain why stealing a movie isn’t like stealing any other property – but it is. – Soulhuntre

People forget that piracy is no different than you buying the program and you lend me the CD and serial to put on my PC or lending me a DVD or album. So that means the government need to crack down on borrowing. – Outsanity

I think music on Amazon costs about what it should. They give me .mp3s for 8.99 to 9.99. That’s very reasonable. Anyone stealing music when they can get it that cheap is not going to buy music no matter what happens. – Andrew Burd

You simply can’t until services match the convenience of the current systems. And convenience means distributed in nature – not having to fire up iTunes. Amazon’s the closest – they just need an API so developers can build their own music stores on the web. You’ll get dedicated people who become digital DJs – finding all the good stuff. And in return for using Amazon’s platform instead of just linking an MP3, the DJs get referral credits (or cash incentives) from Amazon. – trextor

Indie musician should give away their tracks at lower quality (128kbs) for free on their personal site to build a fan base and charge for high quality (320kbs) tracks for the DJs to use. Then make money off of licensing royalties for commercial use. This strategy stops working once an artist would regularly sell more than about 50K copies of a track / album. – Erica Toelle

And obviously you should be allowed to stream the entire song before you buy, like on Last.fm. Such a platform would effectively kill radio and disrupt the profits they rake in from online streaming – which the music industry won’t be too happy with. Till this is a reality, people will just keep downloading and purchasing casually. – trextor

There will always be cheaters and thieves. Always. The point is to make it easy and convenient for the people who aren’t pirating. That’s how you combat piracy … by treating your true consumers right and not focusing on the few who are trying to ruin it for everybody. – tj hanton

We could make everything free. But it would probably me easier to just remove the damn DRM. Without DRM, more people would make legal purchases. – Bob Blunk

TJ is mostly correct. However, Piracy will cause a much larger shift in Software and Music copyright than simply changing how companies treat consumers. Music piracy is very clearly justifiable since most of the artists make little off CD sales and the majority of profit goes to Record Labels who are becoming outdated anyway. Theoretically an honest pirate community would allow software sharing and use it to check absurd pricing which happens quite often in the software industry. – Brandon Titus

Bob Blunk – there is no real data to support that proposition that I have seen and much practical information that contradicts it. – Soulhuntre

Outsanity – of course it’s different. When one person distributes an album to thousands of people via the internet (the pirate bay, vor example) it is radically different than you lending your friend an album. – Soulhuntre

Wasn’t the US founded on piracy though – wasn’t copyright on foreign works specifically excluded at one time? The other thing to do it stop corporations extending copyright forever, Disney makes a mint off The Brothers’ Grimm but campaigns for changes in the law to prevent it’s works going out of copyright. – Andy Davies

I think @Brian Norwood makes a good point: make buying it easier than pirating it. Or at least try. An example: a company shuts off their DRM servers and *poof* there goes all the music you purchased; the message that sends is "people who buy music are stupid". In this scenario, it is more viable to pirate than purchase. Purchasing music needs to be consumer friendly, not prohibitive. There will always be piracy, but at least make it viable for people who actually want to buy music to do so. – David Adam

Except of course the most recent message is that your purchases are safe. Yahoo is making good on their purchases last I hear with MP3 versions, credits at other stores or refunds – Soulhuntre

I think iTunes is the wrong system. Purchasing DRM music is not something I’ll do. However the ZunePass concept I love.. A small fee and I can get all the music I want and I feel like it’s a media subscription like Fios or Netflix. There is no implication of permanence. In exchange for this I can try out new bands and music at no risk and no incremental cost. If I want to "own" it I can buy MP3 versions. Best of both worlds. – Soulhuntre

When it comes to music, I really think anybody who resorts to piracy is a cheapskate. You can get Amazon mp3s with no DRM for a very reasonable price. It’s easy to do so. I think in terms of music, people need to take a step back and think: you’ll pay 3 dollars for a cup of coffee *every day* or go see a movie for $10, but an digital download of an album is too expensive? Sad, really. – Jason Kaneshiro

What do you think it will take to wipe out piracy? Is it even within the realm of possibility, or are we fighting a losing battle?

]]> http://chris.pirillo.com/how-can-we-wipe-out-piracy-2/feed/ 63 How Can We Wipe Out Piracy?http://chris.pirillo.com/how-can-we-wipe-out-piracy/ http://chris.pirillo.com/how-can-we-wipe-out-piracy/#comments Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:12:02 +0000 Chris http://chris.pirillo.com/?p=7900 How Can We Wipe Out Piracy? is a post from Chris Pirillo

Network Guru is a community member who is my own blog dedicated to fighting this. I reported each Apple cracks forum to the offender’s webhost. As I did it, I also posted about it on my blog. I got 3 of the big forums shutdown by their host. Unfortunately, they came back up on different hosts. Some hosts, like GoDaddy, won’t listen until Apple themselves sue these big forums. The majority of the visitors on my blog have left bad comments that are insulting, but I will still continue my work because I support the developers, and I’m strongly against pirated apps. Do you know anyone from Apple I can contact to get help in my quest?

I also created a blog post with the following: “What are your views on pirated or cracked Apple iPhone apps? It amazes me how people justify the way they download software illegally. Please post a comment and tell me what makes you download the apps illegally, and how you feel about ripping off the people who brought the applications to you. It would be interesting hearing other peoples’ views on this. And please, take part in the poll I’ve posted on the right. Comments will be moderated, so think twice before posting illegal links here!”

Perhaps you can post this up on Chris Pirillo blog. Perhaps someone from Apple will notice it. I also have a poll, maybe your visitors can also come and give me some support. I really appreciate your time, and thank you for reading my e-mail.

Please, everyone take the time to go check out his blog, and leave him some positive feedback. Together, we can work to combat piracy. Let’s show the World that we as Geeks are honest, and trustworthy.

]]> How Can We Wipe Out Piracy? is a post from Chris Pirillo

Network Guru is a community member who is my own blog dedicated to fighting this. I reported each Apple cracks forum to the offender’s webhost. As I did it, I also posted about it on my blog. I got 3 of the big forums shutdown by their host. Unfortunately, they came back up on different hosts. Some hosts, like GoDaddy, won’t listen until Apple themselves sue these big forums. The majority of the visitors on my blog have left bad comments that are insulting, but I will still continue my work because I support the developers, and I’m strongly against pirated apps. Do you know anyone from Apple I can contact to get help in my quest?

I also created a blog post with the following: “What are your views on pirated or cracked Apple iPhone apps? It amazes me how people justify the way they download software illegally. Please post a comment and tell me what makes you download the apps illegally, and how you feel about ripping off the people who brought the applications to you. It would be interesting hearing other peoples’ views on this. And please, take part in the poll I’ve posted on the right. Comments will be moderated, so think twice before posting illegal links here!”

Perhaps you can post this up on Chris Pirillo blog. Perhaps someone from Apple will notice it. I also have a poll, maybe your visitors can also come and give me some support. I really appreciate your time, and thank you for reading my e-mail.

Please, everyone take the time to go check out his blog, and leave him some positive feedback. Together, we can work to combat piracy. Let’s show the World that we as Geeks are honest, and trustworthy.

]]> http://chris.pirillo.com/how-can-we-wipe-out-piracy/feed/ 52 Software Piracyhttp://chris.pirillo.com/software-piracy/ http://chris.pirillo.com/software-piracy/#comments Thu, 13 Mar 2008 06:50:58 +0000 Chris http://chris.pirillo.com/2008/03/12/software-piracy/ Software Piracy is a post from Chris Pirillo

Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed

Matt is a YouTube community member who watches us regularly. He recently sent me a very interesting email, asking about my thoughts on piracy, and how to put a stop to it. Piracy of music, software and movies is rampant these days, and there is just no one sure-fire way to put an end to it.

I had some questions about piracy issues on the Internet today. I watch your videos everyday on Youtube and find them very informative. I noticed that you haven’t done a video on anti-piracy. I was wondering about your thoughts on how software piracy or piracy in general should be stopped on the Internet. Is it the software developer’s responsibility to stop users from cracking their program? Or… is it the users’ responsibility to resist using the program without paying? How can piracy best be slowed down?

My personal thought on this is that piracy will never completely go away. Piracy can be slowed down, but not completely stopped. A lot of software piracy happens because users want to use a program but are unaware of the program’s ability. This motivates them to crack the software to try it for themselves. I think a demo of all commercial software today would help decrease software piracy. I’m sure there are many more motives as to why people crack commercial software. I’m not sure of what they are exactly, but I was wondering about your thoughts on this. Thanks.

Piracy is nothing to joke about. I’ve seen too many people admit that they pirate, and that they’re proud of it. That’s not fair… at all. It is SO much easier to approach a vendor and ask if they have a review or NFR (not for resale) copy. You can write up a review after receiving it. Bang! You have free software… legally. It’s simple. DON’T. PIRATE.
If you don’t want to pay for it, find freeware. Find Open-Source alternatives. Develop your own! In many cases, Open-Source or free software is better than the paid alternative. You’d be better serving the developers and yourself by taking a moral approach to this situation. If you can’t find a legal, free alternative or don’t want to spend the money, then the answer is simple. Don’t use the software!

POST UPDATE After this was posted, I received some excellent thoughts from “Terminator” in our chat room.

I watch your videos on YouTube a lot these days, and I just saw your video about piracy. I am against it in general, but its not the same as stealing a car (or a cup of coffe). Well it is the same, but not through the eyes of the consumers. The problem is that you get a choice. Will you buy this car… or will you take the other one, thats the same, for free. What would you do? I think this is the major problem of software piracy. If you would go to jail or have to pay a lot of money for stealing the software, then everything would be different. I think, or rather, I’m sure we dont need all that pirated software and free movies and all that. People download movies they dont even watch, just because they can. Before downloading was possible, you could still see all the movies on tv when they came out. When I go and buy a movie, people look at me and ask me why I didnt just downloaded it. We got pretty spoiled. We were all fine before that trend began. Of all the people I know in my neighborhood, maybe 95 % dont have even one original piece of software. As you said, there are tons of free programs that are very good and you can use them without spending a buck. If people started facing consequences, then everything would change overnight. Consequences are the key, but not an easy thing to make possible. If we would face them, we would suddenly realize, that we can survive without all that pirated stuff that we “really” needed the other day, and just get freeware versions.

Want to embed this video on your own site, blog, or forum? Use this code or download the video:

]]> Software Piracy is a post from Chris Pirillo

Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed

Matt is a YouTube community member who watches us regularly. He recently sent me a very interesting email, asking about my thoughts on piracy, and how to put a stop to it. Piracy of music, software and movies is rampant these days, and there is just no one sure-fire way to put an end to it.

I had some questions about piracy issues on the Internet today. I watch your videos everyday on Youtube and find them very informative. I noticed that you haven’t done a video on anti-piracy. I was wondering about your thoughts on how software piracy or piracy in general should be stopped on the Internet. Is it the software developer’s responsibility to stop users from cracking their program? Or… is it the users’ responsibility to resist using the program without paying? How can piracy best be slowed down?

My personal thought on this is that piracy will never completely go away. Piracy can be slowed down, but not completely stopped. A lot of software piracy happens because users want to use a program but are unaware of the program’s ability. This motivates them to crack the software to try it for themselves. I think a demo of all commercial software today would help decrease software piracy. I’m sure there are many more motives as to why people crack commercial software. I’m not sure of what they are exactly, but I was wondering about your thoughts on this. Thanks.

Piracy is nothing to joke about. I’ve seen too many people admit that they pirate, and that they’re proud of it. That’s not fair… at all. It is SO much easier to approach a vendor and ask if they have a review or NFR (not for resale) copy. You can write up a review after receiving it. Bang! You have free software… legally. It’s simple. DON’T. PIRATE.
If you don’t want to pay for it, find freeware. Find Open-Source alternatives. Develop your own! In many cases, Open-Source or free software is better than the paid alternative. You’d be better serving the developers and yourself by taking a moral approach to this situation. If you can’t find a legal, free alternative or don’t want to spend the money, then the answer is simple. Don’t use the software!

POST UPDATE After this was posted, I received some excellent thoughts from “Terminator” in our chat room.

I watch your videos on YouTube a lot these days, and I just saw your video about piracy. I am against it in general, but its not the same as stealing a car (or a cup of coffe). Well it is the same, but not through the eyes of the consumers. The problem is that you get a choice. Will you buy this car… or will you take the other one, thats the same, for free. What would you do? I think this is the major problem of software piracy. If you would go to jail or have to pay a lot of money for stealing the software, then everything would be different. I think, or rather, I’m sure we dont need all that pirated software and free movies and all that. People download movies they dont even watch, just because they can. Before downloading was possible, you could still see all the movies on tv when they came out. When I go and buy a movie, people look at me and ask me why I didnt just downloaded it. We got pretty spoiled. We were all fine before that trend began. Of all the people I know in my neighborhood, maybe 95 % dont have even one original piece of software. As you said, there are tons of free programs that are very good and you can use them without spending a buck. If people started facing consequences, then everything would change overnight. Consequences are the key, but not an easy thing to make possible. If we would face them, we would suddenly realize, that we can survive without all that pirated stuff that we “really” needed the other day, and just get freeware versions.

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