The only way you truly get ownership over an software or game is through piracy. Any other way in theory (I think?), they can still just take away the game and/ or software from you.
You can download the installer from GOG and then use it to instal as ypu wish, without the need to use GOG from that point forward. It’s the same concept, just without the piracy.
Sure, in the same way that stealing a physical object gives you rightful, legal ownership of that object. Which is to say, not even slightly.
In reality, the way to have ownership of a copy of a piece of software is to legally obtain it (either via purchase or by being given it for free by someone who has the right to do that, e.g. in the case of Free Software).
Some entities you buy games from might have the technical ability to remove/destroy your property and might even get away with doing so, but that doesn’t mean it somehow isn’t theft.
🙄 “Copyright infringement is not theft” is usually an argument I’m the one making, but that’s not the point right now. It was meant to be an analogy, not a strict equating of the two concepts.
The point is that acquiring something by other-than-legal means, whatever they are and regardless of whether the act of transference was a crime or a civil tort, does not confer legal ownership. That’s just a fact, not an ethical judgement, and isn’t really debatable.
I understand that you’re grasping at straws to avoid addressing the essential part of my argument (which, restated again, is that you can’t receive legal ownership from somebody who doesn’t have the right to give it to you), which is tantamount to conceding the point.
The only way you truly get ownership over an software or game is through piracy. Any other way in theory (I think?), they can still just take away the game and/ or software from you.
You can download the installer from GOG and then use it to instal as ypu wish, without the need to use GOG from that point forward. It’s the same concept, just without the piracy.
Aight, cool. Glad that’s possible. I’m still bit wary about these kind of stuff with companies. Even with GOG.
It’s good to stay vigilant. Trust, but verify
And how would they do that? Knock on my door on a Sunday morning, enter and trash my external hard drives where I keep the backup installers?
Yes.
Sure, in the same way that stealing a physical object gives you rightful, legal ownership of that object. Which is to say, not even slightly.
In reality, the way to have ownership of a copy of a piece of software is to legally obtain it (either via purchase or by being given it for free by someone who has the right to do that, e.g. in the case of Free Software).
Some entities you buy games from might have the technical ability to remove/destroy your property and might even get away with doing so, but that doesn’t mean it somehow isn’t theft.
Technical ability != legal right, in both cases.
If you refer to Piracy, I’m not even going to debate the whole ‘‘stealing vs not stealing’’. Think however you want about it.
🙄 “Copyright infringement is not theft” is usually an argument I’m the one making, but that’s not the point right now. It was meant to be an analogy, not a strict equating of the two concepts.
The point is that acquiring something by other-than-legal means, whatever they are and regardless of whether the act of transference was a crime or a civil tort, does not confer legal ownership. That’s just a fact, not an ethical judgement, and isn’t really debatable.
I understand you are trying to drag me into a debate. I’m not going to. You do you.
I understand that you’re grasping at straws to avoid addressing the essential part of my argument (which, restated again, is that you can’t receive legal ownership from somebody who doesn’t have the right to give it to you), which is tantamount to conceding the point.