Square Enix PROBABLY just earned another 1.000,000 if not more.

[Spark Mandriller]

Go to any game company, bring your laptop and show them you are torrenting their game, and good luck not getting jailed.

If I go to a company and stab someone I'll probably get in trouble too, but that doesn't make that theft either.

ps your country must have some pretty harsh laws if you can go to jail for torrenting a game!

[DreadStunLock]

Yeah, simply and easily.

A guy got jailed for 10 years on BBC news for being caught torrenting and owning pirated and cracked versions of 3D modelling software and drawing.

Well, it was either 10,000,000£ or 10 years in prison.

[puuusianka]

Well, it was either 10,000,000£ or 10 years in prison.

I'd love to see this guy's face in the act of childish choosing between these two xD. <<Hym... I pick.... Option B!>>

[DreadStunLock]

To be honest, noone active in this community would even be able to pay everything they ever had including their kidney would be able to pay off that much.

P.S: Push, that made me giggle xD

[Tidenburg]

Yeah, simply and easily.

A guy got jailed for 10 years on BBC news for being caught torrenting and owning pirated and cracked versions of 3D modelling software and drawing.

Well, it was either 10,000,000£ or 10 years in prison.

That's why you should always direct download the program (a demo from the company itself is good) and then crack it. If you direct download the file/crack, you can only get done for stealing a single copy of the product at best because you're not distributing anywhere along the lines.

Torrenting is dangerous.

[DreadStunLock]

Yeah, simply and easily.

A guy got jailed for 10 years on BBC news for being caught torrenting and owning pirated and cracked versions of 3D modelling software and drawing.

Well, it was either 10,000,000£ or 10 years in prison.

That's why you should always direct download the program (a demo from the company itself is good) and then crack it. If you direct download the file/crack, you can only get done for stealing a single copy of the product at best because you're not distributing anywhere along the lines.

Torrenting is dangerous.

Sometimes I still wonder how the hell Piratebay is still intact.

[Tidenburg]

Sweden.

[DreadStunLock]

Hmmmmm....w00t?

[NeoSuperior]

Guys... if you use "torrents" you are automaticly in the world of a criminal (if the torrents have "stolen content"). You don't have the problem with direct downloads... WHY you ask?

Here is the reason:

DOWNLOADING is not rly a problem, as long as you don't "steal-download" it from an official site, without paying. So, if i understood it right, downloading from thiefs is not against most laws.

UPLOADING "stolen content", however is. And if you use your "torrents", then you get into trouble, because while you DOWNload something, you automaticly also UPload something. that's the whole p2p-system. And since your DL speed is very slow if you don't upload too, it is even possible to accuse torrent-users, that claim to just be "leechers".

[Cronky]

Well, it was either 10,000,000£ or 10 years in prison.

All this tells me is that the punishment is more of a scare tactic than a reasonable consequence. It's like since they KNOW they can't catch everyone who jaywalks, they in turn make the punishment if they DO catch you death.

That doesn't justify torrenting in some way though, just to be clear.

[Spekkio]

This is what irks me about media companies. Everyone wants to get paid for what they do, but consider the case of a farmer who grows apples. He spends 10 years ensuring that only the best apple trees breed together, and produces a tastier and larger apple than his competitors.

You buy an apple from him and decide to plant the seeds, growing your own apple trees. You then sell these tastier and larger apples for a profit. You even continue to try to breed new combinations to make an even tastier apple.

All of this is completely, 100% legal. Now change "apple" to "digitial media" and suddenly all the rules change. If the apple was a piece of software, you could not legally make copies of it to sell for profit. You can't legally modify the software and sell it for profit (in some cases, you can't legally modify it at all). This makes no sense economically. Hell, you don't even technically own the piece of software, you only own the media on which it is stored. Why is software so special that they have innumerable laws protecting them from the normal economic forces that every other product in existance faces? 

[Spark Mandriller]

Yeah, simply and easily.

A guy got jailed for 10 years on BBC news for being caught torrenting and owning pirated and cracked versions of 3D modelling software and drawing.

Well, it was either 10,000,000£ or 10 years in prison.

Haha, you got a source on that? I mean, it sounds ridiculous enough to be true, but I'd still like to read more about it.

[Farley4Fan]

This is what irks me about media companies. Everyone wants to get paid for what they do, but consider the case of a farmer who grows apples. He spends 10 years ensuring that only the best apple trees breed together, and produces a tastier and larger apple than his competitors.

You buy an apple from him and decide to plant the seeds, growing your own apple trees. You then sell these tastier and larger apples for a profit. You even continue to try to breed new combinations to make an even tastier apple.

All of this is completely, 100% legal. Now change "apple" to "digitial media" and suddenly all the rules change. If the apple was a piece of software, you could not legally make copies of it to sell for profit. You can't legally modify the software and sell it for profit (in some cases, you can't legally modify it at all). This makes no sense economically. Hell, you don't even technically own the piece of software, you only own the media on which it is stored. Why is software so special that they have innumerable laws protecting them from the normal economic forces that every other product in existance faces?

Agreed. 

And yeah, the rule of thumb is:
downloading=bad, but not as bad as uploading
It is why sites that go out and find illegal copies for you to download are not illegal, and only the uploaders themselves are frequently in trouble.
Cops don't bust the street corners for containing hookers, they sometimes bust the Johns but the pimps themselves are the bigger fish to fry.

[DreadStunLock]

Yeah, simply and easily.

A guy got jailed for 10 years on BBC news for being caught torrenting and owning pirated and cracked versions of 3D modelling software and drawing.

Well, it was either 10,000,000£ or 10 years in prison.

Haha, you got a source on that? I mean, it sounds ridiculous enough to be true, but I'd still like to read more about it.

Somewhere on BBC news, didn't save the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ Scoop around see what you can find.

[Spekkio]

And yeah, the rule of thumb is:
downloading=bad, but not as bad as uploading
It is why sites that go out and find illegal copies for you to download are not illegal, and only the uploaders themselves are frequently in trouble.
Cops don't bust the street corners for containing hookers, they sometimes bust the Johns but the pimps themselves are the bigger fish to fry.

No. According to your deliberate use of the word "stealing," a word which media companies would also use to describe downloading digital media at no cost, downloading is just as bad as uploading.