Something Called A "Dongle"

Some pirates are just pragmatic. Some pirates are just total assholes.

A report came in from the host website of the Humble Indie Bundle that more than 25% of the downloaded copies of the 5 game bundle were pirated. One can only hope that the number is inaccurate and inflated by legitimate repeat downloads. The Humble Bundle was pay-what-you-want with a minimum price of one USA penny. All profits from the bundle were split between either going directly into the pockets of the game developers (allowing them to continue their outstanding work) or being sent to two charities, including Child's Play, a charity that donates toys and games to children's hospitals worldwide. There is no logical reason to steal this game bundle, except to be a douchebag.

Copyright infringement is a strange crime. Unlike physical stealing, with information piracy the victim does not actually lose any property, rather they only lose the opportunity to make a sale. This is because ideas and information are not really be 'stolen', they can only be copied - but the process of creating and sharing a copy still costs the original creator the price of what might have otherwise been a sale.

The copying of content to allow others to enjoy it amounts to sharing, and sharing within reason is rarely considered criminal. Sharing with even one person is (to the creator) effectively equivalent to stealing one copy, but it's only once a large group of people start 'sharing' that it becomes problematic enough to be thought of as a crime. Arguably, this is an arbitrary standard: if the information can be copied so easily, even effortlessly, then it has no real market value; only the act of it's initial creation has value. Information could, then, be considered impossible to own, but if that were the case, a society would most likely need to find some other way to fund the creators of useful or entertaining material.

As a general rule, it is in the consumer's interest to pay for a product, even one that is strictly information. Paying for the product provides the creator with a source of income, allowing them to continue making more product, and in turn allowing the consumer to enjoy more of that product. While a single stolen copy or item isn't necessarily enough to prevent a creator from continuing to work, that same single copy contributes to a mass of stolen copies which can become prohibitive if it grows unchecked. If one person is willing to take without paying, there will be another, and another.

But that still leaves the Humble Indie Bundle. Why steal when it costs literally a penny? Why steal when anything you do choose to pay goes straight to the people who deserve it, the developers? Why steal when anything you do choose to pay also goes to charity? It can only be a direct effort to leech off of the developers and show them that making games is not worth the trouble.