this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2023
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I'm not sure how accurate StatCounter is, given that most Linux users use adblockers. However, according to it, Linux has almost a 14% desktop share in India.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Being poor doesn't necessarily mean you're inclined to break the law.

Really? Piracy should not be very popular there then. oh wait…

https://www.revenera.com/blog/software-monetization/software-piracy-stat-watch/

https://dataprot.net/statistics/piracy-statistics/

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

You really need to learn to read properly. What I'm saying is that being poor on its own does not incline people to commit crime. You read it as "People commit piracy if and only if they are poor", which is the only statement under which your reply and its implications would be logically sound.

Is being poor correlated with piracy? Yes. But I argue the much bigger factors are the lack of availability of legitimate methods of acquiring software in India as well as the difficulty of acquiring such legitimate copies, even when they are available. There are also cultural differences that make piracy more acceptable in India than in other places, such as Europe or North America.

Think of it like this: a hypothetical 13-year-old child in the United States who wants a video game and sees it on Steam for 60 USD may consider piracy, but is much more likely to save up for it and buy it legitimately when they get a Steam gift card for their birthday or ask their parents for it for Christmas. Their parents can easily go to Walmart or Amazon and buy a copy. Meanwhile, a child in India who sees the same game for sale for the equivalent of 5,000 INR will know that is firstly a ludicrous amount to save for, and secondly, may not be available in their region, and thirdly, lacks the ability to simply ask for it for their birthday or something. Gift cards don't seem to be too common in India. A person living in India is also less likely to have access to banking infrastructure that allows for easy electronic payment. Even things bought on Amazon have "cash upon delivery" available as a payment method. That is how undeveloped India's payment infrastructure is. Meanwhile in the USA, every teenager has their own bank account and debit card. As a result, the Indian teenager is more likely to pirate. But it is not solely because they are poorer.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It's not that deep.

  • Kid wants a video game thats paid

  • Kid searches the game piracy website and finds it.

  • Kid downloads and plays the pirated game

Every kid does this and you know it. People don't consider downloading things off of internet as some sort of a moral test or a criminal action. And software piracy is just in paper in some countries.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's not that shallow. You are trying to use an anecdote, and not even a concrete anecdote, to argue a matter of statistics. The anecdote isn't even illustrative of any point. It is utterly disconnected from any statistical argument. It is not logically sound and you should know that. We're talking about how many people pirate things, not whether any given person pirates something. What you have argued in your comment is, "there exists a set of circumstances where a person could reasonably be driven to commit piracy". That is neither persuasive to your thesis nor particularly enlightening.

I really wish rhetoric was taught as a standard subject in grade school. It must not be where you're from.