Your view on media piracy. How strongly are you against it?

[Prophet 451]

23. I'm middling on it

It depends what and why you're pirating. Specifically:

Music: Buy, preferably direct from the artist so that the bloated tyrants who run the music business don't get anything. In the last three years, I've brought maybe half-a-dozen albums, all direct from the artist. For everything else, I use Spotify or YouTube.

Movies: As above.

Computer Games: As above. However, I'll point out that when I brought the latest SimCity, I ended up having to torrent a hacked version which removed the bloody "always online" requirement just to be able to play the fucking thing in the first week. Again, buy direct if possible (Steam has made this much easier).

Comic books: Buy legally (paper or digital) copies of either the issues or the trade. Comics are a pretty low profit business and titles get cancelled if not enough people buy them (this is true of other things but the margin in comics is so low that a difference of a couple thousand sales might well lead to a title being cancelled).

Books/stories: I have about thirty stories available for digital sale in most of the big ebook retailers (and I'll say right upfront that they're porn). I'd be very surprised if my work hasn't been copied and pirated at various times, it doesn't bother me at all. That said, I make maybe a couple hundred dollars a month at this. If I was making thousands, I might feel differently.

Other stuff:
- I have zero problem with people pirating stuff when there is no other way to get it. Example: "MiracleMan" was a ground-breaking, innovative comic-book series that featured the debuts of Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman, both now legends in the business. But because the rights were tied up between six parties, it was impossible to get the series for thirty years. So for about thirty years, pirating was the only way to get the series. I really don't see a problem with pirating in those circumstances. Same thing applies to some old video games, certain obscure tv shows or out-of-print music.

- I have no problem with people pirating copies of stuff they otherwise own. See my own struggles with SimCity. I've also downloaded many copies of works that I actually own because of the fucking ridiculous legal state of affairs that means you don't own X, you just have a license to view it as and when they see fit. For example, I've frequently downloaded copies of movies that I own dvds of because I want to be able to watch them on my pc and the dvd either won't play or demands I install some proprietary software.

- I think downloading copies of stuff you're definately, positively, absolutely going to buy is ok. That's just skipping the waiting period. Example: I'm a huge superhero fan and saw Avengers multiple times at the cinema. As soon as Amazon had it up for pre-order, I ordered it. However, in the time I was waiting for the dvd to be released, I downloaded a copy to watch.

EDIT: That said, the evidence that piracy affects actual sales is patchy, to say the least. And, where possible, always buy direct from the creators rather than the evil corporate assholes. Finally, I do think the ridiculously excessive punishments handed down for copyright infringement are insane.

Incidentally, the rights to "MiracleMan" did eventually get sorted out and the trade will be coming out next May. I already have it on pre-order.