Pirated Software, sinful?

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Is using pirated software a sin?
If so, is it mortal or venial?
 
I voted "Yes, it is venial "…it is a hard sin for me to overcome.
 
(other) the problem is situational:

mortal: if you know or pirate it
venial: venial if you find out after the fact
 
quote=weddy the problem is situational:

mortal: if you know or pirate it
venial: venial if you find out after the fact
[/quote]

If you find out after the fact, then you didn’t know till then that the sofware was pirated. How can you be responsible for this, if you didn’t know?
At that point, you make the decision whether to keep using the pirated software. If you delete it, then there is no sin. If you keep using it, then you become responsible for knowingly using pirated material.
As to “mortal or venial”–that would be situational. Did you pirate it yourself? How expensive is this software if you buy it normally? Is this an isolated act, or do you make a habit of using pirated software? Software pirating is a form of theft, and the same considerations apply that would apply to any question of theft.
 
I voted mortal, based on typical software, but some software may be shareware and sell for $5. Is stealing $5 a mortal sin? I have never done it but I am not sure I would call that mortal. Stealing $500 is mortal in my opinion, very grave - like if you stole Microsoft Office or something…
 
I don’t think mortal depends on the dollar value. If you knowingly steal something, it is wrong. As I understand it, the sin has to be grave, and done knowing the full meaning of doing it. I guess the debate is whether or not “grave” depends on the seriousness of the crime, or on the dollar value. Stealing is one of the big 10. And I was taught that if it involved the 10 comandments, it was grave.
 
Mortal.

I could potentially see using software to “try” it before buying settling on a package that meets your needs, but not using an illicit copy to avoid buying a tool you had a need for. For games, there really isn’t ever a good excuse. And with the availability of open domain / open source software these days, even failing to pay a shareware registration fee fails to impress me as there are usually free equivalents available that sidestp the need to pay for software.
 
I am in favor of trying a software package before buying it. You can do that legally with just about any software package currently on the market unless it’s something really specialized like professional grade statistics software or something (in which case, you just buy it because you need it). I can’t remember the last time I wanted to try a product before buying it and couldn’t do so legally (software products that is). Most software vendors these days know they have to provide a demo version if they want to sell their product.

If you are a student and you really really need a particular software product that costs hundreds of dollars, then the water gets a little muddy. We are talking about a democratic society here and software in this case could easily be considered free information. Of course, you still have to buy your textbooks so maybe not. Frankly, the law on the subject in this particular case is totally contradictory (technically public libraries as we know them are illegal under the more recent intellectual property laws that have been passed in this country, luckily no one in Congress has figured that out yet or you might see some changes at your local library… I wouldn’t expect them to fix the laws until after the RIAA and MPAA destroy themselves (which is inevitable)). I don’t personally pirate software that I need for school, but I don’t hold it against anyone who does (the law in this case is really difficult to defend morally). It would still be a sin though since it is still the law and it is still someone’s property that they are protecting even if they have no right to do so in this case.

As a former software developer, I know that piracy is theft. I also know that some copyright laws amount to theft and need to be changed. If you’re stealing software, you’re still stealing. If you wouldn’t have bought the software even if you couldn’t steal it, it’s still wrong because you’re encouraging the infrastructure of piracy and therefore enabling other thieves.
 
If you know it was Pirated. It is stealing. It is a Mortal Sin

If you did not know it was Pirated. It is not a Mortal Sin as long as you remove it if you find out it.

PF
 
ok, what if you can’t be sure if it was pirated or not, but there is the possibility that is was pirated??

also in my situation. we installed microsoft office on our computer that is possibly pirated. He bought it from someone else, and they gave him a copied disk(though that could easily be the only copy and therefore not pirated?)

Does this also apply to every detail of a license agreement with software. Say I install it on two computers when I read it it can only be installed on one?
 
ok, what if you can’t be sure if it was pirated or not, but there is the possibility that is was pirated??
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When in doubt, do not use. At all the companies I have been at, we had well documented licences from reputable dealers.
also in my situation. we installed microsoft office on our computer that is possibly pirated. He bought it from someone else, and they gave him a copied disk(though that could easily be the only copy and therefore not pirated?)
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Copied disc are pirated, especially when it come to Microsoft. Where are the originals?
Does this also apply to every detail of a license agreement with software. Say I install it on two computers when I read it it can only be installed on one?
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When it says install on one, that means only one.

Violating software agreements can be very costly. Well into the millions. Do not do it.

PF
 
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WanderAimlessly:
When in doubt, do not use. At all the companies I have been at, we had well documented licences from reputable dealers.

Copied disc are pirated, especially when it come to Microsoft.

Where are the originals?When it says install on one, that means only one.
Click to expand...
Copied discs are not pirated. There is no law against copying CDs and there never will be. There isn’t even a law preventing you from giving those copies to other people (they just can’t install the software).

The point is that the physical media is not covered by law at all. Installations are the only thing covered by an End User License Agreement. You can make umpteen CD copies of MS Office and still be perfectly legal so long as it is installed on only one computer. That’s the law, period. Anything other than that would be silly (and yet another sign of how out of touch with reality IP laws are these days).

Do you know if the copy of MS Office you have is part of a site license? It is possible that your one copy of Office is licensed for multiple installs (pretty common practice, my single copy of Office is licensed for 3 installs).

Software can be sold from one person to another under the assumption that the first person uninstalls it from their system before selling it. The license can be transferred from one person to another (just like any other property in a free society), but it has to really transfer. The seller can not continue to use the software once they have transferred the license to the buyer. It is not important how the transfer occurs (original media or downloaded copies are fine, just so long as the license is transferred and only used on one computer).

Is it possible for you to just ask the people you got the disc from? You must have gotten it somewhere.
 
“Is it possible for you to just ask the people you got the disc from? You must have gotten it somewhere.”

my dad bought it from some one who also sold him a computer. I’ll ask him about it.

I have another related question.

Say one owns a copy of Microsoft Office, but installs the same version off of a pirated disk that they happen to have, only because they the original is lost in a pile somewhere…

This type of situation has come up a few times for me. Must you always use the original?
 
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awalt:
I voted mortal, based on typical software, but some software may be shareware and sell for $5. Is stealing $5 a mortal sin? I have never done it but I am not sure I would call that mortal. Stealing $500 is mortal in my opinion, very grave - like if you stole Microsoft Office or something…
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Qy: why steal when there’s so much free stuff out there? Instead of MS Office I have Open Office which does all the same things.

Besides MS Win XP and MS Works (which both came with it of couse), the only store-bought software on my PC is Norton System Works/Anti-Virus and games my son has installed.

Freeware forever – god for your pocketbook and your conscience! Bad for Bill Gates!!
 
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MEP:
Copied discs are not pirated. There is no law against copying CDs and there never will be. There isn’t even a law preventing you from giving those copies to other people (they just can’t install the software).

The point is that the physical media is not covered by law at all. Installations are the only thing covered by an End User License Agreement.

.
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Does this also cover whether or not it’s a mortal sin? I asked a friend to copy his vs of MS Office and give it to me, but then I thought better of it and did not install it. If there’s a mortal sin here can someone please tell me so I can addess it?
 
I’m new to the whole Catholic thing, but it seems to me that to determine whether a sin is mortal or venial, one has to know what a person is thinking in that situation. Therefore, one can’t simply label an action itself as a mortal sin or a venial sin.
 
This thread has got me all panicky now, and I only just went to confession this morning! About 12 years ago I installed someone else’s copy of WordPerfect on a new PC and used it, believe it or not, up until early this year (I don’t adapt well to new gadgets)

I never thought in those 12 years I was doing anything wrong. I don’t remember feeling bad installing it in the first place. Help!
 
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