My gf and I have had discussions about teaching morals to kids. In that vein, I asked myself, would I teach piracy to my kids? Yes, it’s technically illegal and carries inherent risks. But so does teenage sex carry the risks of teenage pregnancy, and so we have an obligation to children to teach them how to practice safe sex. So, is it necessary to teach them how to stay safe in the sea? How to install adblockers, how to detect fake download sites that give you computer aids? Show them how to use a VPN and choosing the right one (a true pirate must always choose a VPN with port forwarding capabilities, so you can still seed) I feel like this is all valuable info we all learned as pirates the hard way, and valuable information to pass on to our kids.

I definitely want my kids to know about libgen. Want a book you want to read about? Wanna learn about dinosaurs from a college level textbook for whatever reason? Just go to libgen, son!

And I attribute most of my computer literacy and education to piracy, trying to install cracks to various games, trying to make games work, and modding the fuck out of skyrim as a young teenager. That, and also jailbreaking android phones. All the interesting things i’ve ever done with computers was probably against some BS terms of service.

So, is piracy something you would actively teach your kids? Sit them down and teach them how to install a Fallout 3 FitGirl repack? Or is this something you’d want them to figure out themselves?

  • Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    ·
    7 months ago

    Absolutely. My entire network is behind a VPN, so they can't fuck up. Windows is banned in my household, so I'm not worried about malware. I'm not paying 20 bucks a month for limited access to the ever shrinking Netflix library, which I can't even use behind a VPN or share with other people. Piracy is the only way forward.

  • Lvxferre@mander.xyz
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    7 months ago

    I taught my nephew and I wouldn't see a moral problem on teaching my hypothetical kids how to.

  • Lettuce eat lettuce@lemmy.ml
    ·
    7 months ago

    Piracy is a great example of a topic where legality and morality aren't the same.

    Those kinds of topics are incredibly valuable teaching moments for children.

    I would teach them when they are mature enough. Help them understand why some people think it is wrong, when/why you think it is acceptable, and how to do it safely.

    You can teach them the difference between actual theft and copying. Explain how piracy has benefited humanity as a whole, explain why knowledge and cultural experiences shouldn't be gate kept by mega-corps from underprivileged people.

    There are so many valuable lessons that you as parents could pass on to your kids through the topic of piracy.

    And as every major platform enshitifies and information of all kinds gets locked behind more paywalls, piracy will become a more and more important skill to have.

  • anothermember@lemmy.zip
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    edit-2
    7 months ago

    How to install adblockers, how to detect fake download sites that give you computer aids? Show them how to use a VPN and choosing the right one (a true pirate must always choose a VPN with port forwarding capabilities, so you can still seed) I feel like this is all valuable info we all learned as pirates the hard way, and valuable information to pass on to our kids.

    Absolutely, I would say whether you're teaching piracy or not, those are essential things that everyone online must know about; it would be unethical to allow your kids to go online without that protection.

  • RachelRodent@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    edit-2
    7 months ago

    Yup! Better if they don't make the same mistakes that we did at the start of our journeys at the sea. "Minecraft free download no viruses.exe" etc

  • AbsoluteAggressor@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    ·
    7 months ago

    No. I plan on treating it as other adult things. "Oh, you got into this? Well, here is how you protect yourself. "

    Computer literacy wise? I hope my daughter gets the curiosity into it. Other things as well. More you know and understand, the better.

  • Artopal@lemmy.ml
    ·
    7 months ago

    If I teach them, they'll find it boring. Better to be a role model and answer questions if they have them.

  • ulterno@lemmy.kde.social
    ·
    7 months ago

    It's not the result, but the process.

    You can teach ppl stuff all you want, but what they really need, is to learn how to figure it out themselves. Otherwise, when the best practices you teach them become obsolete, they won't be able to create their own.

  • dutchkimble@lemy.lol
    ·
    7 months ago

    I'd never thought about this but when the time comes I'll teach my sons, but hopefully they'll tell me some new way I don't know yet. Also a true pirate should check out Usenet.

  • Omgboom@lemmy.zip
    ·
    7 months ago

    Of course, if I didn't they might end up using a public tracker to download torrents

  • SorteKanin@feddit.dk
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    edit-2
    7 months ago

    You're asking this in a piracy community, so you'll obviously get a certain kind of answer. Not saying you should or shouldn't, just be aware of the bias of where you're asking this question.

  • FeelThePower@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    ·
    7 months ago

    While I don't plan on being a parent, I will say that I did learn a good bit about piracy from my dad when I was younger, which kept me away from obviously shady things and now that I'm older I pretty much have a routine in place for my stuff whereas he doesn't even use a computer anymore. I think it's worth it really.