What do you think of people who pirate film/tv shows?

Nah, I don't buy that premise.

All over America, stores and businesses have cut employes. Making their remaining employees work all the harder. In retail stores this makes for longer check out lines, inconveniencing customers.

Younger people might not notice this change. But there was a time, decades ago, when stores highered enough people to properly handle the customers needs.

The news article link, is just a line of bull from overpaid CEO's blaming their desire to up profits by cutting their work force.

You may very well be correct, I couldn't say for sure. So lets talk about it on a personal level then.
As I said in my first post, I am okay with poor people downloading movies. If you're on food stamps that doesn't mean that you should be cut off from culture and entertainment.

But people who are well off, why not support the things that you enjoy?

How about this - do you distinguish between indie films and large studio productions?
For example donnie darko had a really tiny budget - Hard to consider the people who made that the rich elite. Would you pirate that just as quickly as The Avengers?

Is a person who pirates an original release taking the original release, or just making a copy and taking it?

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

I think people who make money off of pirating are scum. If you didn't make the film, you shouldn't sell it. People who just watch though, that's fine, especially if it's because they are on the fence about buying what it is they are watching at a later time, which I've done before.

I think it's inarguably wrong if you acknowledge any concept of personal property, and virtually none of the arguments defending it withstand scrutiny.

Which isn't to say it's particularly serious or troubling most of the time. I'm more concerned with large numbers of people engaging in blatant rationalizing than I am with the thing they're rationalizing.

I completely disagree with your premise that it's OK for the poor to break the rules but the rest of us can't.

If as you say viewing movies on the net is illegal piracy, then the same rules need to apply equally to the poor and the middle class.

Is it wrong? Yes. Is it often the only way I'll be able to have access to movies that I want to see because they don't have distribution or DVDs available in the US? Also yes. If a movie is available on DVD here I can either buy it or get it from my school's collection which is pretty vast, but otherwise I have to pirate it in order to watch it

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Mubi

The rationalizations for pirating are hilarious. It's fun to see all the moral gymnasts out there trying to justify their own misbehaviour. I think there should have been a definition of pirating to prevent confusion although my definition (mine only) is watching something without paying for it. Selling pirated material is worse, but let's not kid ourselves - watching something without paying for it is also wrong. That said, I do it all the time because it's easily available online. I know it's wrong but I still do it and I don't sweat it. I'm a thief, but I'm not a liar like some of you here.

Of all the stupid justifications for pirating that one is the worst. Extrapolate that logic beyond the realm of movie piracy and all morality and societal order breaks down.

I stream movies, which is fine. I've never pirated a movie, which is wrong.

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"Oh, so you'd be General, huh? If you were General, I'd be Emperor, and you'd STILL get the sake! So shut up and get the sake!" -Hattori Hanzo

"#GAMEOVER420BLAZIT" -bluedeed

Some people in my school push in the lunch queue every day and always eat lunch before me. Some people pirate movies and don't have to pay. Why should some people who don't follow the law be rewarded (by not having to pay) whilst over people who do follow the law get punished by having to pay?
I have used this stance to justify me pirating movies.

Originally Posted by Citizen Rules
I completely disagree with your premise that it's OK for the poor to break the rules but the rest of us can't.

If as you say viewing movies on the net is illegal piracy, then the same rules need to apply equally to the poor and the middle class.

Modine your post is unclear. Are you saying the poor have a right to pirate movies but the rest of us don't? By that standard the poor are entitled to dine at expensive restaurants and then slip out the back door without paying.

I'm saying all laws have to be applied equally to everyone or not applied at all. Either watching a movie on the internet is wrong or it's OK. But it can't be OK for some and not OK for others.

BTW I disagree that viewing a movie on the internet from an established web site is piracy in the first place.

Had to delete a few posts. Please keep it civil.

But that's just not true. Of all the things that drive ticket price piracy is probably the least of them, if it affects price at all. Price increases happen more because of inflation, rising costs of operation (upgrading to digital projectors, fancy vibrating seats, etc.), and the simple fact that distributors make more off the films than theaters. Box office is decreasing domestically because, IMO, more people are watching films at home. The home experience is getting better and better and it's more appealing than the theater for all but the most theatrical of experiences (Gravity, for example).

Now, there's tons of sites out there that show ridiculous stats claiming the "hard numbers" of what piracy costs the movie industry but there's no possible way those numbers can be verified because they don't reflect the reality of the industry. For example, I saw The Worlds End in the theater opening weekend, downloaded a bootleg 2 days later, then bought the bluray of the film. I made that film all the money it looks for in a fan but I also counted as a loss statistic. I've seen plenty of people on pirate sites say things like "Saw this in the theater and now I'm downloading cause it's great."

The big problem is foreign box office. It's my understanding that piracy is more expansive in Europe and Asia than in the US and that is most likely far more damaging to the industry than piracy in the US.

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Do you agree you should be fined/incarcerated for giving or letting your friend borrow your CD or DVD? haha goes back to the old napster arguments, and i think Lars Ulrich is still rich .

Big studios (cough Marvel cough) still are making tons of cash from their movies and they are subject to i would say an increase amount of piracy, i watched a pirated version of Iron Man 3 after i saw it in theaters, how much did that movie make?

There is always going to be a pirating community, I just think people should support what they like, especially in the indie studio sense because they are the ones who stand to lose the most from piracy, and that translates into the viewers losing as well.

My line of thinking is that they wouldn't have lost a sale anyway.
I can see how that might be strange, but the harm from piracy comes when it's someone that wants to see it and would have otherwise paid to see it.

Basically what I'm saying is.. if It were my movie that you pirated, I would go after you if you had money. If you didn't have money and were on food stamps, I would not make you serve jail time. I'd let that one pass. But if you had money.. yeah you'd either be in jail or paying me in a court of law.

Is that so wrong? That I wouldn't punish a dirt poor guy that couldn't afford my movie and saw it anyway

Worth noting: whether or not it's so wrong is different than whether or not it's wrong, so you guys might be talking past each other here.

^ Foster
Thats an admirable way of thinking, but i think that opens up a can of worms, such as why is the person poor? from their own devices? also the phrase 'If you give a mouse a cookie' comes into question IMO.

As long as a person has connection and a computer, people from both spectrums of wealth will pirate, no reason to distinguish the two for they are both the same in that regard.
Besides the 'poor' person is going to be more apt to buy a burned copy, to which they are simply puting money in the wrong hands, whereas a 'rich' person with broadband is getting the movie for free.

While I think the cries from Hollywood about piracy are a tad overblown and do not call for overly vague bills like SOPA, I still go to the theater, buy DVDs, and watch movies from a paid stream site like Hulu Plus. Because I want to support the movie.

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I think Yoda's right, we're talking about different aspects of the issue.

I just realized that in my post, I was thinking of the kinds of movies I watch, old classics.

But then I heard you guys mention new releases. I would have a different view of downloading a new release movie that was still in the cinema. That would be more of a grey area for me. Personally I don't download new releases.