this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2024
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No they aren't, the "pirates" are freeloaders who help these companies abuse more people by endorsing the software via its use.
The actual volunteers and activists continually developing software that respects your freedom are doing the actual heroic shit here. Not some rando in Brazil who found a cracked copy of a program and hosts a tracker.
In fact, "piracy" helps these companies more than they hinder.
I never thought i would see an unironic usage of the word freeloader on this fucking website, against people who pirate software of all people???
I asked people to consider how "piracy" can actually help establish corporate dominance of proprietary software or at the very least not challenge it.
You want to talk about "deeply unserious" since you've taken it there? Piracy is a deeply unserious term. No one is stealing anything. It's just copying the program and distributing it in violation of the program's license as well as cracking or breaking whatever DRM or copyright protection mechanism may be built into the program. It's done out of cost, breaking anti-user DRM or for the crackers own profit. Piracy was created as a term to serve the purpose of doing what you think I'm doing with my "freeloader" remark: ostracizing people and punishing them.
If you're going to tell me that "it's reclaimed" or "everyone uses it so its okay" then this conversation is over because I have nothing more to say to that.
Yes FOSS is good and should be supported, but claming someone who is pirating a copy of Adobe is perpetuating abuse is batshit. Supporting an open source project requires specific knowledge and/or money, pirating Adobe and using a wholly separate skillset to pay your bills is morally neutral at worst. Personally I would argue, it's good actually.
"I can't support this FOSS project because I'm broke and don't know how the fuck to code, and I also I can't use this stolen copy of Adobe because someone might find out, guess I'll starve" doesn't make any sense.
Maybe I shouldn't have chosen those words, but what I was getting at was that people who use cracked copies of nonfree software still contribute to that software's growth. I didn't mean for that to attack anyone in particular. Piracy is a corporate, anti user term and we should stop using it. Adobe banks on both paying and non-paying customers and you aren't hurting them at all by using cracked/unlawful copies. It's still a network effect, the more people who use Adobe will lead to more and more people using it.
Or just using and learning about it. You don't need to be a programmer to contribute to projects but saying this makes it seem that way. Using free software over proprietary software is praxis just by itself. I'm not naive enough to say that's always possible, but it's the only way to prevent further harm.
This is an overexaggeration of what I said. Generally speaking, we can contribute/partipate in systems of abuse out of necessity or without meaning to. Also no one is saying you should starve stop being dramatic we aren't fucking redditors.
I''m not condemning those who are forced to use Adobe for their livlihood (or at least I didn't wish to). I was pushing back on the shallow narrative that "piracy" is the end all be all and not thinking about how they still can contribute to the issue.
I didn't mean this as a personal attack on anyone (unless maybe to people who call themselves software pirates, which is cringe imo) and I'm sorry if it came out that way.
Seconded. Piracy of closed-source commercial software locks you into their ecosystem, and makes you dependent on their tools, which, if you want to start making money from content made with those tools, requires you to buy a license or get sued to oblivion.
im a 3D artist, I work with maya, substance and mari, I depend on studios offering me work to make a living. So according to you guys I'm supposed to go up to my fucking Lead and tell him, "I no longer wish to be dependent on Autodesk, Foundry and Adobe's ecosystems and will now exclusively use Gimp and Blender." I suddenly have to throw away years of built up skills on pirated stuff because ackshually piracy is just as bad as enabling the software through a studio's licensed versions if you end up working for one? What the fuck?
Deeply unserious take and completely divorced from reality, sure I could try freelance using Blender but I probably wouldn't make it because successful Blender artists are more influencers than actual professionals, and my social media presence is barely measurable.
Nobody is asking you to throw away your livlihood and put yourself at risk. Don't take this as a personal attack on you and your circumstances.
You just proved my point as well. You spent years on pirated copies of proprietary programs and now you are trapped into using their products. Even if you break the DRM and obtain a cracked copy, you are still at their mercy and now that you are working you have little to no time to find a solution. Can you at least acknowledge that before calling me and others divorced from reality and deeply unserious?
Let me put it this way, even if you pirate software, you are still victimized in the end.