http://thepiratebay.org/browse Lower your cost of trading, and/or maintaining your trading office. Free software including Windows Vista Ultimate. No, I am not connected with this website in any way whatsoever. I am a multi-year ET member with 700 posts. I pass this along for those who are interested in reducing their fixed costs. No, this website is not illegal. The site even goes so far as to publish "takedown" notices with replies to "go sodomize yourself" (!), in answer to these senseless requests. Millions of people all over the world are getting pretty good prices for their software - everything's f-r-e-e. Don't be one of the last people who has to pay for this stuff, you'll be disadvantaged from the start.
LOL. While what they are doing may be "not illegal" in the pseudo-socialist paradise that is Sweden, it's most certainly illegal for an end user to download and run pirated or cracked software in the US, for one. If anyone wants to try out Vista or Office or Photoshop or whatever for free, knock yourself out... at your own risk. In any case, how is that bittorrent tracker different than countless other torrent trackers and p2p networks out there? It's not.
This is a bit simplistic, as the reply above suggests. First, I can assure you that it's illegal to run cracked software on your machine in North America. The website may not be illegal, but it is illegal for someone in NA to use it to contravene copyright laws. Second, your characterization of the requests of intellectual property holders as 'senseless' could probably do with some clarification. In what way is it senseless for someone who has laboured for thousands of hours on a product to try and discourage others from disseminating the product free on the internet? I am not a protectionist and I believe, for example, that NA record companies stuck their heads in the sand for too many years complaining about downloading of music, when they should have been recognizing the problems involved in policing the 'net and coming up with with alternate business models which would allow them to make money in the new world. However, I do have some sympathy for intellectual property owners who are trying to protect their property. Calling their requests 'senseless' seems to me to be... well... kind of senseless.
Senseless in the sense that it's not working, and has never worked, on this website. They have a phrase something like "Zero files have been removed, and zero files will ever be removed."
If you wish to pay hundreds, or thousands, of dollars for your software, that is certainly within your rights to do so. Others who wish to obtain these products for free, may also choose to do so. That is what my post is about.
I understand what you're saying. In that case, futile might be a better description. It actually makes good sense for the owner of the pirated s/w to make documented requests of the website owners that they stop disseminating the product, IMO. It's nicely optimistic to say that 'Zero Files will ever be removed' but I'm not sure I'd bet much on that as a certainty. Big biz has some good lawyers...
Ummm... yes. Well, you see, my problem with this post is that you seem to be completely ignoring the fact that 'obtaining' these products by downloading pirated copies is a form of theft. You seem to be saying that it's simply a matter of choice how you acquire your products. If I choose to acquire a big screen TV by 'obtaining' it from your living room, is that also ok? You aren't even acknowledging that there is a legal/philosophical issue here. Once again, I have downloaded copyrighted material from the 'net (Limewire music downloads). However, I fully acknowledge that there is a legal/moral issue here and I disagree strongly with the the tone of this post, which makes it sound like anyone who pays for software is an idiot because it is right there, available for free from a torrent site. After all, if you could get something for free, why in the hell would you pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars for it? Right?
Nik, You are right, big business does have good lawyers. But check out this link to their site. http://thepiratebay.org/legal Pirate Bay absolutely abuses some of these mega-company lawyers, and their legal theories. And, ahem, do I detect the slightest note of fear in your post, and the previous post, about what the mega-companies may do to you? Please read the "our reply" segments within the link above.
I do agree that there is a legal/moral issue here. You have purchased a product that is yours. You now wish to share it with a friend. The hesitation and fear that you feel about this sharing, is the sole creation of the media companies, and the influence they have with lawmakers. Your chains are forged. This is not moral. But most of all, the media companies, here, have taken the illegal path against this website. Within the last few days they have been caught red-handed in illegal denial of service attacks, and illegal hacking against this website - they were subsequently reported to police, and I believe a lawsuit has been filed. In other words, the lengths to which these people will go to retain control, is now unquestionable, and fully observable to those who want to take note of it.
Sounds like a pretty convenient analysis. Actually, the hesitation and fear you feel should be the result of the fact that you are about to commit a crime - namely, copyright infringement. It is absolutely wrong, in my view, to say that this is the 'creation of the media companies'. Forgive me for saying so, but it is crystal clear that this point that you have never been a content creator. If you had slaved away in order to create a product and then seen your product illegally copied and disseminated for free, you would be singing a different tune. You would be aggrieved, not the media companies. You, as the content creator, would be aggrieved. It is somewhat intellectual dishonesty for you to now claim that copying a piece of copyrighted material and giving it to your friend is the same as posting it on a public website along with a key so that thousands of people can acquire it for free. This attempt shows the flaw in your 'argument', although to be quite honest, I can't really see any proper argument here yet - just assertion. If you purchase a piece of intellectual property, properly copyrighted, and you copy it and disseminate it, you are committing a crime. There is no way around that. That is what copyright is. The content creator, has the sole right to copy it. See? Copyright. Retain control of what is legally theirs and is being stolen from them? Errr, yes, I can see that the would go to those lengths. So would you, had you ever seen your work stolen. Ad nauseam, I am not here to suggest that I am on the litigation bandwagon. I am not. I just find it very distasteful to hear people attempting to skirt the issues in this way. Do you not see that if I, as a sole creator of a piece of intellectual property, am unable to control the dissemination of that property, then I am not able to make a living by creating the content? Furthermore, do you not agree that this issue is becoming more and more relevant as intellectual property rights are probably the most important aspect of ownership going forward?