I want it for FREE! But I don't know how...

[EclipseDragon986]

Let me say I'm no angel. I'm just smarter than these guys.

M: Me
SC: Stupid people

Piracy, Yo

SC: Can you tell me where to download music?
M: Well there's Rhapsody, Itunes, we have our own...
SC: No, I mean where I can DOWNLOAD music
M: You mean for free?
SC: Yeah
M: I can't tell you that (moron)
SC: Why? Don't you help customers here?
M: Obviously if you're trying to steal music you're not planning on being a customer. And it's illegal.
SC: Fine, forget you then.

Software, Yo
M: So you need get antivirus, Microsoft Office...
SC: Oh, I don't want to pay for that. I'll get it from a friend.
M: That's piracy
SC: No, it's not. I'm not the pirate, he's the one who downloaded it. I'm just using his copy.
M: Terrific.

Internets, Yo

SC: I need a new wireless card
M: *walks him to the aisle* What kind of router do you have?
SC: *deer in headlights* Router?
M: You need a router to transmit the signal.
SC: Oh, no, I just use my neighbor's.
M: Then I can't help you. It's illegal to get on a private network.
SC: It's not private. Everybody's on it.
M: Do you know him?
SC: No.
M: Does he know you're on his network?
SC: No...
M: Did he give you permission?
SC: No...
M: Then you're on your own.

More Internets, Yo!
SC: I want internet but for free. Can you tell me how?
M: Go to the library, they can let you on for free.
SC: No, I mean I want it in my house.
M: Then you have to pay for it.
SC: No, my neighbor gets it for free, I just don't know how so I thought you'd tell me.
M: And you're wrong.

Conspiracy, Yo!
SC: How can you do this man?
M: *confused* Do what?
SC: This stuff is like what people need to live. How can you charge for it? It's all a corporate conspiracy to bleed people dry and you're going along with it.
M: Damn it, you're on to me. We got away with this for millennia, but you finally figured us out. It's all a plot to control the sheeple and make precious money by charging them for computers. *sob* Next you're figure out there was a cover up at Roswell too!


Poor Planning, Yo!
SC: *holding something under his coat* Hey, you got a knife I can borrow for a few minutes?
M: Nooooo....what's under your coat?
SC: What, you going to narc on me? Just give me a knife and I'll go away.
M: Uh...

Subtle, Yo!
M: So, how're you doing today?
SC: *looks at me like a deer in a headlight, drops a box, and runs*

[BookstoreEscapee]

Does Conspiracy Man make the same argument at the grocery store? That's like, stuff you need even more than, like, computer stuff, yo!

[EclipseDragon986]

Everytime I talk to a customer, I feel a little dirty inside.

Also wet and cold.

And sticky.

[rerant]

I love living in Canada - the land where downloading music doesn't violate any laws.
And to be honest it should be that way everywhere, but that's a complately different debate.

And personally I have no issue with using burnt copies of software or hopping onto my neighbors internet, but I realise that you can't help anyone out with that while at work.

[JustADude]

And personally I have no issue with using burnt copies of software or hopping onto my neighbors internet, but I realise that you can't help anyone out with that while at work.

Personally, I just find good freeware equivalents of whatever software I'm looking at. Sure you could pirate Kaspersky, but Avast! is free, nearly as good, and you can get tech support.

Music and movies... meh... I hardly ever download any of that stuff, and what I do download is almost exclusively Fansubs and other stuff that's never been released in the USA anyway. They're not losing money when I can't buy it legally.

As for Teh IntarWeb, I pay for my own and lock it down tight because I want the bandwidth. The sweet, addictive, godlike bandwidth! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! *ahem* Sorry.

[iradney]

The sweet, addictive, godlike bandwidth! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! *ahem* Sorry.

Is it wrong that I saw you as a cartoon mad scientist, kind of Hyde-ing and Hulking out with mad hair, with the full silver moon as a backdrop? And then kind of deflating down to an embarrassed looking man in a labcoat?

[Seshat]

I love living in Canada - the land where downloading music doesn't violate any laws.

That depends.

If the copyright on the music (art, writing, etc) hasn't yet expired, then whether it's legal to take a copy depends on what licence the creator has put on it.

If there is no specified licence, then the default is 'all copies must be made with the permission of the author/artist/musician/whatever'.
If there is a specified licence, then your rights are those assigned in the licence.

If the creator has assigned partial rights to a publisher, the publisher has the rights they have assigned and the creator retains the rest. (For this reason, I can't hand out copies of my professional written work. I've assigned the right to distribute it to my publisher. When the agreement expires, however, that right reverts to me.)

The big difference between the post-DMCA USA and the rest of the world is that the DMCA has made it a horrible nasty OMGWTFBBQ to take a copy of someone else's work without their permission.

Regardless: please remember, when you use work without permission, that someone may be counting on the royalties from that work for their living. PLEASE think about that before you take a (legal or otherwise) free download, and try to figure out whether the musician/artist/whatever is living off the royalties from their work.

I'm one of the ones who is. I only get a couple of bucks from each book, but it's just as important to me as the tip is to a waitress.

(It should be obvious, but if it isn't: when a person is choosing to give away their work, such as free/open source software, that's fine. Volunteer work is different from 'I need that money to pay my rent' work.)

[JustADude]

Is it wrong that I saw you as a cartoon mad scientist, kind of Hyde-ing and Hulking out with mad hair, with the full silver moon as a backdrop? And then kind of deflating down to an embarrassed looking man in a labcoat?

Not at all. That's exactly what I was going for with that bit. Glad it worked.

[Can I Help Your A$$?]

There are plenty of sites that offer legal music for free download. Downloading out-of-print, public domain vinyl uploads is perfectly legal, in the US, Canada, wherever. There are many sites that boycott RIAA music because of the Mafia-like tactics they employ against people they see as "pirates." (YARR!)

One such site is WFMU, a radio station out of Jersey. All legal, all kicking the butt of lame RIAA garbage.

[symposes]

Korn's video for "Yall want a Single" sums up rather nicely, how badly the music industry treats its artists.

Basicly, If an artist, doesnt have his own private label. Chances are, he is making little to nothing for his work. And i dont mean, 100 thousand instead of 1 million dollars. I mean like 20 dollars instead of 1 million.

[Broomjockey]

That depends.

If the copyright on the music (art, writing, etc) hasn't yet expired, then whether it's legal to take a copy depends on what licence the creator has put on it.

If there is no specified licence, then the default is 'all copies must be made with the permission of the author/artist/musician/whatever'.
If there is a specified licence, then your rights are those assigned in the licence.

Actually, in Canada, there's a tariff or levy on all recording devices and media (blank tapes, CDs, the assorted players, etc.), and that is then given to recording studios, and in return, Canadians are allowed to create copies for private use, and this is extended to the situation of "I loan you a tape to listen to, and while you have it, you are allowed to make a copy" (yet technically not "I make a copy and give it to you to keep"), and a court ruling said that a person copying music off a P2P server or site is equivilent of the first act, meaning that a Canadian can grab music off the computer of someone else without violating copyrights.

[Marxfan]

SC: How can you do this man?
M: *confused* Do what?
SC: This stuff is like what people need to live. How can you charge for it? It's all a corporate conspiracy to bleed people dry and you're going along with it.

You should have said,
"No, you're just a crooked cheapskate looking to con people into giving you free stuff because you don't want to get a job to earn money for the stuff you want!"

Poor Planning, Yo!
SC: *holding something under his coat* Hey, you got a knife I can borrow for a few minutes?
M: Nooooo....what's under your coat?
SC: What, you going to narc on me? Just give me a knife and I'll go away.
M: Uh...

You were smart not to give him a knife. Who knows what else he would have done with it...

SC: I need a new wireless card
M: *walks him to the aisle* What kind of router do you have?
SC: *deer in headlights* Router?
M: You need a router to transmit the signal.
SC: Oh, no, I just use my neighbor's.
M: Then I can't help you. It's illegal to get on a private network.
SC: It's not private. Everybody's on it.
M: Do you know him?
SC: No.
M: Does he know you're on his network?
SC: No...
M: Did he give you permission?
SC: No...
M: Then you're on your own.

Smooth one, SC. I feel bad for you, having to work with these dishonest assholes all day long.

[South Texan]

Conspiracy, Yo!
SC: How can you do this man?
M: *confused* Do what?
SC: This stuff is like what people need to live. How can you charge for it? It's all a corporate conspiracy to bleed people dry and you're going along with it.
M: Damn it, you're on to me. We got away with this for millennia, but you finally figured us out. It's all a plot to control the sheeple and make precious money by charging them for computers. *sob* Next you're figure out there was a cover up at Roswell too!

When supermarkets, farmers, utility companies, clothing stores, hospitals and others who sell the basics of "what people need to live" start giving away everything for free THEN come bitch about charging for software.

[Polenicus]

Holy CRAP! What happened, did a load of radioactive stupid contaminate the local bling supply?

Seriously, I hope that didn't all happen in one day...

[lordlundar]

You were smart not to give him a knife. Who knows what else he would have done with it...

Given his level of intellect, stab himself with it.