What are pros and cons of piracy?

Answer 1

There are a number of disadvantages to computer piracy.

1. It is illegal. You do not want arrested, sued, or have your computer equipment confiscated.

2. It cheats those who produce products and in turn robs the market of innovations. If you don't have the money to make better products, you won't be able to do so, and the public won't have as many options.

3. It causes product inflation. If 10% of your product's users are stealing it, then you have to add 10% or more to the prices to make up for that. Raising the prices may trigger more piracy.

4. Pirated computer software may not work properly. It may contain viruses. Plus, you won't be able to get customer service or take advantage of any warranties. If pirated software damages your PC, then you have no recourse, since neither the hardware manufacturer nor the software manufacturer can be held liable.

5. Pirated movies and music may be of lower quality. One common way of pirating movies is to sneak a camcorder into a theater. Since that is illegal and there are devices to detect that, someone doing that would have to hide the cameras really good. That degrades the image quality. Then as it is stored on many machines and shared online, more degradation may occur through data corruption. By the time you get to see it, it may be low quality, shaky, and have muddled sound. If you get a brand new DVD, the quality and usability will nearly always be great the first time you use it, and if you have problems, you have your receipt and can exchange it for another copy of the same title.

Answer 2

Pretty much the only downside to pirating is ripping off the company who made it along with a hint of guilt.