Piracy.

[Space Voyager]

so no no-cd cracks even on legal SW, it would be otherwise considered illegaly obtained even if you still have a bill from the store

Yes, this is the "owning the game, not code" crap. Far from what one would expect when you buy a product.

 

Thanks, both.

[Sgt. Strike]

there's several ways around piracy, if they companies that make the games are at least semi-intelligent. First offer the games at a much lower price even initially. Second, get rid of DRM, Securom, etc. Third, don't sell DLC in individual parts, but rather bundle them together, and sell them on the shelves. Go back to the old expansion packs. That'll net a little more money, from everyone.

 

If you will notice, I didn't say get rid of anti-piracy laws, but rather to prevent piracy from being so prolific, make your products less expensive, and curb some of the piracy.

[FullAuto]

Pirate Bay to be blocked.

[Sunflash]

Disgusting.

[FullAuto]

Guess I'll have to start using Tor.

 

Well, using Tor more often, anyway.

[Pete]

The bit that gets me is that all people will need to do is use a proxy.

 

They're firefighting by peeing on a bushfire rather than doing any good, and wasing ridiculous amounts of effort and taxpayers' money on a situation they seem to have little understanding of.

 

Whether they blocked it or not it will have little effect.

 

The block, starting within weeks, will mean millions of Britons will no longer be able to access one of the biggest and longest-running global filesharing sites.

 

Proxy. Bam. Done.

 

Come on government and legal folks, get some better IT professionals on board to help inform your decisions before wasting so much time and effort on things.

 

The only way the government will ever solve the problem is to have a completely enclosed internet like Iran are planning, or severely restrict all access like in China. And then they've become something they don't want to be. Well done.

[Kret]

There's already mirrowing sites that allow you to circumvent such dumb method of blocking that site and have full access to it's contents. Guess it will work for a while with people that don't really have a clue on how to do so, but it is a waste of time, money and effort in the long run.

[Pete]

Indeed.

 

I've seen such comments along the lines of "but we must try to stop it, even if it only to show children that it's illegal".

 

Here's a news flash - most of the people pirating music, films, games and porn are likely to be adults, and at the vast majority will know what they're doing is illegal and just don't give a crap.

 

Adapting to the times and offering viable solutions (Spotify, Netflix etc) is the only realistic way to combat it.

 

Movie makers - you'll be stuck for a job when cinema dies because it costs £20 for 2 tickets to a film before I've even bought any popcorn.

 

Talented music artists - ditch your major labels and form your own labels. Even rappers can make that work and what they produce isn't even technically music - it's poetry to a beat.

 

Government - give it up already and stop bowing to the pressure of greedy industries - they caused the mess and it's theirs to sort out.

 

I'm obviously not advocating piracy in any way as it's a bad thing and there are laws against it for good reason, but I certainly don't condone ignorance and naivety by the government as the official response.

 

Etcetera etcetera.