I never saw anything that said I was entitled to a job.

The fact that I had/have a job is strictly due to luck. My dad is a car salesman and sold a car to a guy who owns a grocery store. That's the only reason I have a job. Nobody is entitled to anything.

"Never" is a bit extreme. A small portion of people may never get a job because of disability or age prejudice, perhaps, but I don't think you fall into either of those categories. I find that typically those who say they can never find a job are only searching for one or two types of jobs. No one wants to flip burgers, but those jobs are still very much available.

Getting a job is obviously possible with perseverance and a bit of luck, but even jobs flipping burgers are hard to come by. McDonalds turned down nearly 1,000,000 people in April, which is the month they normally hire the most people. http://www.zerohedge.com/article/mcdonalds-hires-62000-turns-away-over-938000-applicants-minimum-wage-part-time-jobs

Which is why Ive stopped looking into flipping burgers, which was my first choice in the market. Now Im just seeking employment in the technology industry somewhere with the college education I currently have.

This topic is getting way off rails at this point though.

It is indeed. Even if you were completely incapable of acquiring a job, that still would not justify your pirating. When one cannot afford something one then should not be able to acquire that something. Whether it is a car, a TV, or a video-game.

when one cannot afford a luxury* (my opinion, open to interpretation)

This topic is going in circles.
We're on what, page 12? And we havn't even moved away from anything on page 1 (except for the addition of some off-topic discussions).

Pirating isn't justifiable but people do it because they can, it's easy, there is no immediate repercussions, and it gives them what they want RIGHT NOW. Instant gratification.

/topic

Well I've yet to see anyone oppose the flowchart that demonstrates that states what stealing is and therefore what piracy is.

So, is there anyone who is willing to state that piracy is NOT stealing? If so, put forward your argument. If not, I propose we move on to different categories of stealing and what category piracy should fall under. Then we can continue to go from there.

The thread wasn't created so that people could spew out bullshit definitions of "piracy" and "stealing." It was made so that people could try to justify piracy. Obviously, it's not justifiable. There's no point going on with this topic; the question presented in the first post has already been answered (hell, it was answered after like the fourth post).

Can someone justify this claim?

Imagine I have just enough money to get a computer and internet. Imagine I need these or I lose my job, house, and must live on the streets because I have no family to back me up. Now, imagine that I get this PC but don't have windows installed, and I'm not savvy enough to use a free OS. I pirate it at my friends house because it's as simple as burning a cd.

If this really bugged me, in the future when I can afford it, I'll go purchase a copy of the OS assuming it met my expectations.

That's a valid justification in my book.

But see what you propose there is equivalent to "I steal food to feed my children so they do not die". Your thought, though, is biased based upon your current standard of living and what you believe you DESERVE to have. Someone living in a mud hut in the middle of Bumfucknowhere, Africa could say that HIS life should be the standard of living, and that one can lose a fancy house, electricity, etc and still be fine.

One could shave off the edges and make some ridiculous statement, which I will not try and concoct, that basically equates "if I don't pirate this software, my children will die" or "i will die". One has to ask, why do you DESERVE the children? Why do you DESERVE to live? The fact that you are alive doesn't mean that you are deserving of life. That doesn't mean I would go against any sort of morals and straight up try and save my hypothetical children/self, but it doesn't make it moral.

Lol@my argument.

We get it, you think the thread should be locked. You've made this clear multiple times. Stop making posts like this.

I haven't followed this thread so I'm not sure what the point we are trying to come to is. The OP asked how pirating is justifiable and your post does that. I think Cecils has posted a scenario where he justified theft to himself.

But I mean people who are saying that they deserve this or that because of lack of this or that are blowing my mind here. Do people actually believe they should get things because they can't afford them? Even in Cecil scenario it's just a personal justification. It's still bad and wrong and he doesn't deserve it. He Is still doing a bad thing. I pirate all the time and I know I'm not doing the right thing. I'm stealing. Even saying "I'm going to pirate something to know whether it's good or not before I buy it" isn't right. It's not right or legal, It's still stealing and isn't the right way to do things. Regardless I would do the same thing, pirate it before I buy if I was even considering buying it but I wouldn't kid myself in saying that "well I'm not doing anything wrong If I buy it later anyway".

"Bro, but people are charging like 80 dollars for a game where I control a box and then only thing I can do is move forward! wtf man I shouldn't have to pay for that. We deserve to pirate it" Or some variation of that isn't a justification.

I don't care about stealing. Like I said I pirate games and music and moves all the time. I don't feel bad at all but I never once tell myself "I sure did deserve this! Those greedy jerks aren't getting any of my money!"

No real justification, just something you tell yourself to sleep easier at night at best.

Well that's your opinion. It might be my opinion that in that situation I can pirate. Since neither of us really have the authority to tell one another what is right and wrong, so far I can still see it as right and justify it to myself.

I think he was more going towards the point that what you are saying doesn't justify what you do. For example:
"I wanted to have sex with this girl but I can't seduce her, so I raped her" is really not justifying raping someone; she didn't deserve to be raped.
"I wanted to play a game but I can't afford it, so I pirated it" is really not justifying stealing a game; the game didn't deserve to be stolen.

I'd agree, but I was just pointing out that I could justify it to myself, as we were all talking about justifying piracy.

If you mean that flowchart claiming that piracy is stealing then it's obviously false since you're not actually "acquiring" anything, instead a bunch of 1's and 0's are being modified on your hard drive. Piracy is piracy and stealing is stealing, it doesn't go under any other category. It just is what it is.

If you steal something, you are taking it from someone else, and that someone else can no longer use what you've stolen. That definition doesn't apply.

Sure it's not justifyable, as many people have pointed out, but the examples people are giving relating piracy to something else are way off.

When you want something and it's easily acquirable, you get it. Furthermore it is legal (at least where I live it is) as long as it is only for private use. Many people (and even popular websites) will claim that piracy is illegal to discourage it, or because they know it's not moral and assume it's illegal.

The argument about "not having the money" is weak, unless of course you're looking at a $3000+ program like IDA Pro + x86/ARM Decompiler, your mindset is going to change a little when you find out it has no competition.

Uh... I was going to say that with those 1's and 0's you are actually acquiring something, but it seems like you already admitted it in the same post. Besides, you can acquire things like knowledge, so I really don't understand your argument. Piracy is stealing.