[rick888]

"How many people here on HN have used pirated software to help build a web app? Quite a few I'd bet. If your fledging web app is a success, whose software are you gonna buy when you are successful? The one you 'test-drove' as a pirate of course. "

Possibly. But there aren't really any real stats to back this up.

"Why do you think the tech industry and the web grew out of America and not some other wealthy country? It's because America tolerates a certain amount of rebellious, anti-authoritarian behavior (among other things)."

The GPL is becoming its own dictatorship and when people like Chris from thesis go against the ideals, he is treated like a criminal. The GPL is no different than proprietary software licenses. Companies and people involved in both want people to abide by their rules. However, only one seems to be supported here on HN and other communities. It's very hypocritical and it's one of the reasons why I can't take the community seriously.

"I'm not pro-piracy per se, but I believe a certain amount has to be tolerated as the alternative is a police state on the web."

This is a little extreme. The alternative is not a "police state". The alternative is respecting someone's rights, even if you don't agree with it (don't pirate something you don't want to pay for).

[patrickk]

The problem with clamping down on piracy is where do you draw the line? On one end of the continuum is the 'totally-open' model that has been there since the advent of the web, and the other end of the continuum is China, which employs an army of workers (http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2010/03/...) to censor content that the government deems 'inappropriate'. Starting to apply measures to clamp down on the web in any way is stepping onto a slippery slope. Look at the McCarthy communist witch hunts of the 1950s or the USA PATRIOT Act for examples of how power is abused in the name of protecting us from 'communists' and 'terrorists'. Who is to say that 'Pirates' won't the the next label to be vilified?

Granted, neither end of the continuum is ideal, but I know which side I'd rather be on. The web has been a magnificent haven for innvovation in the twenty or so years it's been with us, let's not do anything to f%%k it up (Butterfly Effect and all that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect)

[rick888]

"The problem with clamping down on piracy is where do you draw the line?"

Why should the GNU get any more attention or rights than anything else? If people can't respect my copyrighted work, I sure as hell won't respect GNU licensed software.

[neutronicus]

China may not be the best example. They pirate almost as an institutional policy.