Geohot hate piracy and stuff

[binary solo]

I think there is a basic misunderstanding of copyright. I'll use as an example something that is actually an appreciating asset for which the original creater gains no direct benefit beyond the initial sale: Art. Specificallly Fine Art (paintings sculpture etc).

One of my closest friends is a professional artist. His art sells for quite a lot of money, enough that he doesn't need a day job. 8 years ago he sold me a painting for $5000, today it's worth is about $20-25,000. My friend, and his inheritors retain copyright over that painting in perpetuity. But that copyright does not entitle him to a single cent if I sell that painting to someone else. What it does entitle him to is the the absolute control over whether and how the painting can be copied (i.e. make a limited edition print of the painting, put the painting on some T-shirts, publish images of the painting on websites etc), and what royalties he will be paid for any monetary gain being received through the copying of said painting.

Same law and principles apply to all copyright materials.

What makes piracy illegal and immoral, is that pirates copy the material and sell the material for monetary gain, but they do not fairly or adequately compensate the copyright holder.

There are many people who believe that copying and distributing material where no money (or other tangeable benefit) is changing hands (i.e. free distribution) is both morally acceptable and generally beneficial. Though under current copyright laws it remains illegal. Ethical people who believe in the principle of free distribution obey copyright laws for products over which the creator of the material asserts legal copyright. They may not agree with that form of copyright, but they abide by it's restrictions when asserted.

It is both legal and moral for a person who owns a single copy of a copyrighted product to dispose of that single copy as they see fit. They can lend it privately, give it away or sell it for whatever the buyer is willing to pay. You cannot distribute it in any way that would allow it to be played / viewed on more than one device at a time, because then that's copying.

Game rental businesses enter into a rental agreement with the publisher (copyright holder) whereby fair compensation is agreed between the rental business and the copyright holder. The copy right holder (if they are not the game developer) enters into an agreement with the developer regarding fair compensation for revenues received for the games. If the developer doesn't obtain indirect compensation (through the copyright holder) from rental agreements, but only obtains compensation for retail sales, that is a morally questionable action on the part of the copyright holder not the renatl business, and an incompetence on the part of the developer in failing to ensure they receive compensation for all copies of the game that are made.

People who conflate copyright infringement with trading in second hand goods and legal rental businesses have a haywire moral compass. I suppose such people want all libraries to be demolished given millions of people around the world read numerous libary books for which they don't pay anything. I suppose you also want the police to raid every school fair and yard sales where CDs, DVDs and videogames are being sold to help raise funds for schools and charitable community organisations.

The other thing you might want to learn is really who is losing out from piracy. For the most part developers who do not retain copyright get a fixed amount of money from the publisher / copyright holder for the IP they produce. The amount is normally capped, and once that cap is reached the developer has no legal right to demand more, no matter how much the publisher / copyright holder makes off the IP. So for a great many games, especially the ones coming out of the indie studios, the developer pretty much gets paid the maximum amount they're ever going to get paid for a game. Most of the most popularly pirated games coming out of small indie studios would fall into this category, because a game that is popularly pirated is normally a game that has sold well in legitimate retail channels. So who is really denying full financial gain for indie developers. Now this is an example of what is legal but morally questionable.