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Originally Posted by najnad
They are not stealing from Sirius
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No? Do you think SiriusXM receives any licensing fees for vehicles that weren't sold with SiriusXM or activated by the dealer?
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Originally Posted by najnad
they just allow you to activate the hardware that is already in the vehicle.
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And that's where the stealing from BMW part comes in.
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Originally Posted by najnad
As for the maps, the map update files are freely available online
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Because they're stolen - illegally copied. Just because you can find a movie torrent online "freely" doesn't mean that the owner of content has made it available free of charge. Feel free to check with MPAA or RIAA on that whole concept if you're confused.
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Originally Posted by najnad
so what you are really paying for is the code to allow the install. The non-dealer sellers of this code do have to get it from BMW in some way
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No, they just generate the FSC code using a keygen or other software.
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Originally Posted by najnad
they just dont have the same overhead as the dealer so they can sell it for cheaper.
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They can sell it for cheaper because they steal it.
Surely you don't think I can call up BMW and say "I want to sell FSC codes online so people can activate their stolen nav discs" and BMW will work out a price with me, do you?
If you have TV cable in your building ("freely available") and some guy sells you a box and a code that lets you watch all the channels without paying the cable company you are certainly not a legal subscriber and he's not a legitimate vendor able to charge you less than the cable company because he has lower overheads.
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Originally Posted by najnad
Are the auto parts stores that sell OEM parts for less than what the dealer charges stealing?
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Of course not, but that's a completely different thing.
They actually went out and bought physical parts someplace and are reselling them.
You can't really be so obtuse that you fail to grasp this, can you?
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Originally Posted by najnad
Or are the independent auto shops that work on BMWs stealing from the dealer because they charge less? I didnt think so.
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Nor does anyone think that. This isn't about charging less for doing work. This is about charging less because it's someone else's work.
People selling codes or copied nav discs aren't buying them in bulk from BMW and selling them for less than the dealer. They're spending nothing at all for them because they're generating FSC codes on their own, burning nav discs from torrented files, etc.
Those independent car parts places and repair shops do nothing at all to hide their identities. If the cops or BMW's lawyers showed up, they'd happily give them a tour because they're doing nothing wrong. Do you really, truly think those same people would acknowledge in writing to BMW AG or to a prosecutor what they're doing?
It's hard for me to accept BMW's massively inflated prices for map updates. It's hard for me to accept the concept of installing hardware but disabling it, then enabling it for a fee as if some new hardware or feature were being installed rather than merely switched on. Let's not pretend, though, that what you describe is anything other than stealing.