[Bvalmont]

Everyone is copying media. _EVERYONE_. How can it NOT be socially acceptable ?

The other 30% just doesn't realize that lending a game or buying a game and selling it after you've finished it is exactly the same thing as what an internet pirate is doing.

[benohear]

There is often a disconnect. At the time when Apple were parading busted teenagers in order to promote iTunes, this friend was going "hmmmm, yes, but they DID break the law. So they kind of deserve it".

Yet the same person sends yearly compilation CDs to all his friends. One batch had a few songs that didn't play because of the iTunes protection. So he went out, brought CD's, ripped them and sent a new batch. At no point did he consider himself as having comitting a crime.

[mistermann]

Lending a game is not exactly the same thing as piracy, in that case there is one copy that is being shared. When you pirate something, two people have a copy and can use at the same time in different locations.

[jasonlotito]

Thought game.

If I deleted my digital copy that I sent to someone, would that be okay?

If I download something from someone, am I responsible for verifying the copyright or is it the distributors responsibility?

If someone requests something from my computer, and my computer allows them to have it without my explicit intervention, am I responsible?

Am I responsible for distributing a file if someone downloads it after accessing an FTP server I setup using an anonymous account?

What if it required a password?

Note, I'm not trying to push the agenda that piracy is right. Rather, that piracy isn't as easy as saying someone copied a file.

Edit: I really want to stress I'm not trying ot make a point. Even I can't answer all these questions easily.

[aplusbi]

>If I deleted my digital copy that I sent to someone, would that be okay?

Ethically I believe this to be equivalent to lending a book/cd/whatever to a friend (this has been done, actually, as a protest/stunt. A guy attempted to sell an mp3 from iTunes on eBay).

>If I download something from someone, am I responsible for verifying the copyright or is it the distributors responsibility?

Distributor, generally. I feel this is similar to receipt of stolen property. In most places you are only liable if you knew it was stolen.

>If someone requests something from my computer, and my computer allows them to have it without my explicit intervention, am I responsible?

Yes, though how responsible you are is debatable. Intent is important but ignorance is rarely a successful defense.

>Am I responsible for distributing a file if someone downloads it after accessing an FTP server I setup using an anonymous account?

Why wouldn't you be?

>What if it required a password?

How is that any different? Or do you mean someone guessed the password?

Of course, most of these answers are just my opinion/speculation. Sometimes the line between "piracy" and "sharing" is blurry which I think is a huge part of the problem. There is (seemingly) no way have one without the other. If I want the ability to lend an ebook to a friend then I must also have the ability to give a copy to my friend. There are some systems in place to attempt to reconcile this, but they are either limited (you can lend it x number of times) or take away some other right (for example, it might take away the right to have a backup copy).

[jasonlotito]

> Yes, though how responsible you are is debatable. Intent is important but ignorance is rarely a successful defense.

Their was no intent. Someone was merely able to gain access to the computer without my expressed knowledge and download a file (hypothetical, of course).

> Why wouldn't you be?

I guess your assuming I've given them explicit access to the FTP server.

> How is that any different? Or do you mean someone guessed the password?

Sorry, I tried to state the conditions. In the previous question it was merely that, I setup an FTP server, I don't password protect it, but I don't publish that the site exists.

So, yes, in the last question: someone guessed the password.

> Of course, most of these answers are just my opinion/speculation. Sometimes the line between "piracy" and "sharing" is blurry which I think is a huge part of the problem.

Agreed, which was the point of the exercise. We infer so much from simple actions. Intention is important, as you mentioned.

[lutorm]

Not if the game is installed on another computer. I assume he meant lending a computer game disk and not a physical game console.