Actually there IS 'an issue' in that the redistribution [passing on to a friend] classifies as broadcasting...which is not covered under 'personal use' or 'fair use'....

I believe it's actually protected, at least here in Australia, if it's a temporary transfer rather than reproduction. Distribution isn't said to have occured unless the volume of what's exchanging increases past a personal use level; one, in this case, as no copies were made. Keep in mind that while your friend is in possession of this hypothetical tape, if I remember rightly, they are considered the owner unless you can prove otherwise. Possession is nine tenths the law, as they say.

In the UK the authorities have recognised how absurd it would be to try and prosecute someone for recording a TV show. They would have to arrest about 56,000,000 people for it to work...

Sky TV, as part of their package, supply the means to record the programs in the form of a hard drive! I have all sorts of stuff on mine, in particular HD movies which are not out on Blu-Ray yet.

I'm going to have to agree with Jafo, there really is no excuse for software piracy. People do sell copies of their shows on DVD you know.

I hope one day most piracy will be a thing of the past. I also think that will not happen unless companies change their business model. I hope the swedish pirate party can change the views of the politicians so that with their help we can all come to a working solution.

True many cool USA shows never even get aired here. So they can hardly argue that they lose sales on it. Although they will argue that we should complain at local TV stations and have them buy the show from them, but if they'd know our TV stations at all they'll know it'll never happen. I've seen some Friends seasons air over 12 years already, cheap ass bastards.

Anyway this is not the right method to stop the piracy....piratebay is gone, h33t and many others came....

Same thing happens with the famous winmx, winmx close and emule born...emule is too slow for someone....torrent born...

The problem with the piracy in internet is that there isn't the same law for all countries, with a unique law for the entire planet the problem disappear, but many interests are in play

Way back behind the scenes here at Stardock there's a small bunch of people dedicated to the policing and eradicating of piracy of [our] software. 

Every now and then there'll be a comment 'got the bastards - closed another one' - in reference to the ending of criminal activity that threatens the REAL viability of sites such as this one...yes, the one you all merrily expound upon regarding the virtues of piracy.

No matter which way you wish to argue it...there are VERY REAL losers - and in this instance they are my friends [Stardock] ....they provide me AND YOU with the opportunity to interact on this/these site[s].

If entities and mentalities that inspire/promote the likes of Pirate Bay get their way then you can kiss legitimate sites goodbye....and/or your own collective arses.

Why do I get so vocal?  Because nary a day goes by when I'm not being PM'd about yet another skin/whatever that someone somewhere has pinched and/or is providing elsewhere without consent/authority.

It's not [just] my fight.  It is that of everyone.

Those who just don't see it can find kindred spirits at Napster [whatever] or some other no-hopers' hangout for the socially inept.

I think most here will agree that the current situation is not a good one for either side, namely the customer and the companies. I don't think many, including me, would want it to stay this way. The thing I'm interested in though is which way it is going, or atleast which way it should go. I see a terrible self-destructive reluctance to change their own ways, especially what the music industry is concerned. Please rethink your business models!! You've got a lovely new distribution medium, the internet, yet I have to see the first one to use it properly. iTunes is a step in the right direction, but not quite there yet if you ask me. Many people lost their purchased music forever because the service went down and they no longer had access to their own songs.

The games industry is going the right way, with digital downloads, although as far as I'm concerned they need to solve 3 problems: 1. DRM which causes more problems than it solves. The lack of it is one of the reasons I purchased (that means money for brad and GPG) Demigod. 2. Lower and more equal prices. DD costs companies less, so we should see a lower price. Especially Steam fails at this, offering the games for the same price as retail. Also I do not accept having to pay the equal amount of $ in € while the exchange rate is ~70%. I don't mind a small difference but 1:1 is rediculous. This is another reason I purchased Demigod. 3. You should be able to resell your games. I like systems like Steam and Impulse because you can implement DRM that way without silly hacks like Starforce. However it also often means that once you register the game you can never resell it. When I buy a CD or a book I can resell it when I want, you should be able to do the same with games. I know most companies will argue that you never own a game, you simple buy a licence to use it, but this is outright bullshit. Let me say by the way that I never resell games myself, I only buy games I like and I want to have them on the shelve forever. I would buy more games that would only please me for a couple of hours if I could easily resell them. I hear the new Impulse is going to do something with this?

I like to once again make a distinction between pirates alone and pirates who also sell the stuff for a profit for their own. I condemn, but understand the first. The second however are outright criminals.

Most of the time pro-piracy anti-copyright types just sound like whiney toddlers having a tantrum. But not so much in this thread tbh.

I've used the pirate bay in the past I admit but only for the purposes of making sure a computer game would functionw with a high enough frame rate before purchasing when there is not demo available, when my legitamate cds get damaged (silly people not letting me download via an internet distrubtor they are affiliated with despite valid CD key) and once I downloaded a show becuase the DVD releases for it hadn't happend 2 years after the american release (2!!!) though I did buy the DVDs when they came out.

To a previous post using the example of a friend lending on a taped show: its an issue of scale, and yes size does matter when you're comparing a site facillatating the sharing of copyrighted material millions of times over against a bloke doing this just once.

Several things should be done on the side of the music/gaming/tv industries I think, like releasing DVDs in a timely manner (no stfu I will not wait years for my favorite program to come out on DVD) and not screwing over paying customers with invasive DRM or by lying on there minimum system specs.

Sadly enough for the "law" there are already a couple clones of TPB up and running (please dont anyone ask me for links). There was a torrent of the entire site made (over 21GBs) and at last count it was already DL nearly 20k times.

While I dont agree with copyright infringement in general - it not piracy unless there is a profit motive contrary to popular spin and it is not theft unless physical goods are taken away from someone. I also don't agree with the current laws for copyright. Moreover I say this a person who's primary living comes from IP and is working like a slave anymore to pay the bills. Simply put I think the system has been push way to far beyond anything that serves the public's interest. After all the public is what grants the special privilege of copyright (a legal limited time monopoly) to provide incentive for creative people to be more creative for the ultimate benefit of society but I digress... Consequently the laws hampers the primary point for copyright to existence in the first place. In my not so humble opinion the system needs to be reconsidered (inclusive of patents) and reworked to serve the mutual benefits of all members of society.

There's nothing "good" about Piracy.

Only someone who never had an original thought, or created an original work (art, music, whatever) would perceive Piracy as having any term like "good" (as if that meant anything more than "I got it for free" Nyah, Nyah) attached to it.

That's because those folks have nothing to lose.