Half of young Norwegians say online piracy is an acceptable way to save money

Piracy vs Stealing and Nature of Ownership

• Several comments challenge the idea that “downloading = stealing,” emphasizing that copying data doesn’t deprive the original holder.
• Others counter that harm can be systemic rather than direct deprivation (e.g., bank fraud is just changing information but still theft).
• Ownership is framed as a social/legal construct: a bundle of rights that can be restricted. Debate centers on when a “sale” is real ownership vs. a license.
• Physical goods (cars, books, houses) are used to argue both that ownership always has limits and that seller-imposed post-sale control is qualitatively different.

Digital Media, DRM, and Consumer Experience

• Strong frustration with DRM, geo-locking, revocable “purchases,” and streaming platforms deleting paid content.
• Many say they’d gladly pay for truly owned, downloadable files (like DRM-free music or some audiobooks), but current video platforms rarely offer that.
• Piracy is often described as providing a superior user experience: offline access, no geo-locking, permanence.

Ethical Arguments For and Against Piracy

• Pro-piracy arguments:
  • Non-rival nature of digital goods.
  • High prices and fragmentation make legal access unreasonable.
  • Poorer people and those in restrictive markets wouldn’t have paid anyway, so “lost sales” are overstated.
  • Access to culture and knowledge is framed as a social good.
• Anti-/skeptical views:
  • Piracy deprives creators (especially small ones) of revenue.
  • Normalizing piracy risks devaluing art and leading to a “race to the bottom” similar to mobile apps.
  • Some suggest simply not consuming unaffordable media instead.

Streaming Fragmentation, Pricing, and Access

• Multiple complaints about needing many subscriptions to cover desired content, especially sports.
• Norwegian commenters note that live sports (e.g., Premier League, winter sports) are heavily pirated due to high prices or missing legal options.

Piracy, LLMs, and Consistency

• One subthread contrasts people who defend pirating media but condemn training AI on copyrighted works.
• Some argue that, under principles like “information wants to be free,” both personal piracy and training models on copyrighted data should be acceptable; otherwise, positions look self-serving.
• Others lean on traditional ideas of fair use/education to justify humans learning from copyrighted works and extend that analogy to AI.

Organized Crime and Corporate Power

• The claim that piracy “supports organized crime” is widely mocked as fear-based messaging.
• Some argue that large media conglomerates themselves engage in or cover up serious wrongdoing, making moralizing about piracy hypocritical.