Pirate

The speaker has been downloading things for free from the internet since they first had access to it. They believe it is a victimless crime and they only download things they are interested in. They also occasionally share things with others who need them. They don't have a problem with piracy and believe it doesn't cause any real harm. They prefer to watch things on their small laptop or phone and don't feel the need to pay for subscriptions or expensive software. They appreciate those who upload content without commercials. They don't gloat about getting things for free and don't share as much as they used to. They believe in sharing creative output for free. They enjoy getting something for nothing and don't feel guilty about it. They believe digital piracy doesn't cause any real loss. It's been my mission, or my pleasure, ever since I've really had access to the internet and the internet has been fast enough to download something, which I first started with a music track, a single track, on a peer-to-peer network. I have wanted access to things without having to pay for them. Now, obviously, there are ethical, moral questions in acting like that, but if you know my past, you'll understand why I have that ability to do that. For me, it is a victimless crime. When it comes to watching things like television, well, I don't have subscriptions, I don't even have a television, and I only want to watch what I'm interested in, meaning the vast majority of things I wouldn't be interested in, and if I wasn't able to download them for free, I wouldn't watch them. Pay-per-view stuff like HBO and Showtime and some of the others, which I also have access to, are also things that I wouldn't watch if I wasn't able to. I would just watch YouTube stuff. When it comes to applications, which are businesses, sometimes small, that provide software, again, were I not able to get these things for free, I wouldn't use them. So no one is losing money by my having access to these things. They wouldn't have gained anything if I couldn't. That's sort of how I look at it. And so the fact that I do have access to these things because other people choose to share them, and they get nothing out of it by doing so, they just choose to share it for whatever reason they have, whether they think it should be available to everybody, that they realise that people can't always afford stuff, but they would still benefit from them, or they would just enjoy it. And it's not that they have necessarily bought it. There are people out there clever enough to hack, or what they call crack, a piece of software so that it can be used by anybody. And for them it is sharing their skill as much as the thing. It is a service they give to others, a gift if you want it. If you don't see it as a gift, don't take it. You don't have to go looking for it. So therefore it is only for those people who feel OK in doing so, and a lot of people do. You know, if you're a professional something, you pay for all your software, and you have it updated and supported as it should be. But there are many people who aren't professional but like to have a dabble at professional things, and so they can, for free. And I've always done that. I like it. It's like I get something for nothing, and I've always liked getting something for nothing. And I have also occasionally shared the things I have with people who need them. Somebody needs to recover data on a drive that has corrupted. The software is hundreds of pounds to buy, and they only need it once, but they have to buy it in order to use it once. So I give it to them, and that helps them. And they've saved a load of money. They could of course give it to a professional to do who would charge them even more than the software. The software is relatively simple to use. It just takes time to recover things, and it's good. But generally I don't share what I have because I'm not the ones who are originally sharing it. Although I have shared films and TV shows many, many times. I've certainly watched things with people that I've downloaded. And nobody has any problem with the fact that we're getting to see something that they would either not be able to see right now or have to pay for. Everybody likes a little bit of something for nothing. I happen to like something for nothing. And if I can't get it, then I don't have it. It's very, very, very, very rare for me to actually pay for something after having spent a lot of time trying to find it, but realise I really do want that. That's when I decide that it's time to pay. It's very, very rare for me to do that. Either I can find anything that I think I'm interested in, or I just let it go. There's many, many other things for me to be able to watch, download, and some of which are completely legitimate on the BBC iPlayer, the catch-up services, or YouTube, all of which are available to anyone, BBC in Britain for example, but anyone who goes there. The other stuff, especially the stuff that comes from commercial channels, I really appreciate it if I do watch it because the people who upload it do so without any of the commercials attached. So while there may occasionally be commercial break points, it just goes straight into the next part and that's a much better way to watch something than constantly being sold things which I would never watch, ever, if that were the case. So the fact that they do that for me, or for us, is a real privilege and I really appreciate it. So I get to watch some things that are broadcast on commercial channels which means that the advertising is what pays for their revenue and so they've already got their revenue. I'm not actually depriving them of anything just by enjoying it. Like I said, obviously the pay-per-view things like HBO and Showtime, where you have to have a subscription to actually access their channels, for those people who have, I imagine the situation, have a large screen TV, because what I download is really only suitable to watch on my small laptop or phone, but if I had a large screen TV and a sort of really comfortable, lazy boy chair to sit in and I was watching things on a regular basis with people that I liked watching things with, then I would be in a position to pay a subscription to those pay-per-view channels, or for those commercial free subscription channels, because I would be living that life. But I'm not living that life. I only want to watch something on my little 11 inch laptop screen and I usually watch things on my phone as well and so they're only very sort of low resolution, which you couldn't watch on a large screen anyway. They're actually adjusted by those who share them so that there are various qualities for those who actually don't have large bandwidth in order to download. So they've thought of everything to help those people enjoy what they have also liked, which I assume for many is the reason they're sharing in the first place. So I don't talk about this very much in the sense that I don't tell people that I don't gloat, oh you pay for that, oh I get it all for free. I don't gloat because I don't feel it's right to do so and I very rarely share things now because I don't watch anything with other people. That ship has sailed for now and has been for quite some time. It's one of my favourite things to do, to watch something with someone who sits with me and is present with me, watching and enjoying the thing for the time that it's on. Not sitting with someone, watching something while they're also using their phone. That I find just I don't like at all. But for the vast majority of what I do watch today is by myself and my intention is to save money as much as I can, to not spend money, to not waste money and if it's available for me to enjoy the finest things that the world puts out and I don't have to pay for them and no one suffers as a result in my opinion then I will. I know that with applications there are some very small companies who don't make much money on what they do and their applications are something I use but and I've also come a cropper when something has gone wrong, there's been some flaw involved or something has happened and I've reached out to ask for help and in some way revealing that what I'm using hasn't been purchased and they get all affected by it. Like I'm taking money out of their, money? I'm taking food out of their kids mouths. I don't get into the argument that I wouldn't have bought it otherwise so don't think like that. You don't have to help me of course, that's fair enough, but you don't have to go down the emotional guilt trip to try to get me to pay for something that I wouldn't have paid for otherwise. There are often free alternatives, open source alternatives anyway. I don't have to use Word, I could use Open Office which is free to everybody and is basically the same as Word, it acts in the same way. It can even open Word documents and vice versa but it just so happens that I can use Word and I've just always had it so I just have it but Open Office I've used once or twice and I really like it, I think it's a great alternative and freely available so that's what I would use. Not that Microsoft is concerned about my, me or not, but I know that there are some small app developers who feel aggrieved by piracy. I understand, I do, which is why when I share my creative output online I don't charge for it, that's my way of giving back. So anything I record or anything I write is shared in a way that anyone could use if they wanted to and there's no recompense for me, I don't think about it like that. Not that there is a great deal of output that people are interested in but if they were they could just have it. For me that's just how I've always been. You have things, you share things. The joy for me is in the creation, not in the monetarisation. If I made my living that way and there are some people who go to great lengths to stop people sharing their things which must take a lot of time and effort and essentially money to do, well for me that would be exactly the opposite, to become so paranoid about not having a single penny taken away from what they believe they're entitled to and I'm not saying that people who create and want money for it aren't entitled to it. The vast majority of people do pay for their things, they don't think anything of it, they just buy for what they need but I've always been somebody who quite likes getting something for nothing. I have ever since I can remember and it's just a part of my character and while I'm not involved, actively involved in any criminal activities and that was all 30 years ago, more now, I am still capable of those things. So in a way this is like a much simpler way to just keep that sort of aspect of my character active without it being a big deal. Not that I would do other things were this not possible but at the same time there's a part of me that is like that, how would you call it, slightly bent. I am straight for the most part but there is a part of my character that is a bit bent and this gives it a way to satiate it in a gentle way, in the least harmful way and I don't feel guilty about it. If I was to reach into somebody's bag and take out their thing then they are deprived of it, they are lost of it. I have gained something, they have lost something. My conscience wouldn't let me do that but if I take a digital copy so that nothing is lost from them and I wouldn't have bought it had I not been able to do that, for me no foul, no problem, no loss. They don't even know that I've done it, they still have the thing and other people are giving them money for their digital copies so they are still earning and for them that's the way it works. They are never going to solve the idea of file sharing, of piracy, although even the word piracy is a strange thing because again pirates of old would take something from someone and they would be deprived of it, they would have a loss. So there would be a very powerful effect of their actions. But digital piracy, there is no loss other than the potential income which I suppose for some who do get access to it would buy it if they couldn't then there is a potential loss. But I'm not talking about them, I'm only talking about me. I don't buy what I can't have. Certainly not expensive things, I have bought one or two items of software over the years but 99% of what I have is just shed and I'm OK with that.