Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnClif
Stealing is stealing, and stealing is wrong. Microsoft's property rights are not linked to the size of its bank account, and neither are peoples' ethics.
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I see this all the time, about how we're "stealing" from the corporations if we breach DRM to be able to use the data on our device.
Please correct your erroneous assumptions: Piracy is NOT stealing.
If I "steal" you bicycle, I now have possession of it, while you do not. I have deprived you of your bicycle.
If however, I take a series of high-quality digital scans of your bicycle, and recreate the exact same bicycle in my basement, have I stolen your bicycle? Are you no longer able to ride your bicycle?
The RIAA/MPAA/etc. have shoved this down our throats for a long time, to the point of forcing us to watch the 2-minute mini-movie at the beginning of full-length feature films, about piracy...
"You wouldn't steal a car!"
"You wouldn't steal a television set!"
"You wouldn't steal a DVD!"
"Downloading pirated movies is STEALING!"
When in fact,
it isn't.
Now, what I've written above is in no way defending piracy or copyright violations. I abhor the industry's garbage and would rather see them rot out on their own vine, than contribute to their inertia. I support artists directly and film and movie studios directly.
They're already stealing enough from us every day, by applying their tariffs on recordable media, players and other devices.
If I buy a spool of CDRs and DVD+RW media that I use to burn Linux ISO images for my Linux User Group every month, and a portion of the cost of that recordable media goes into the pockets of the MUSIC or MOVIE industry... is that stealing?
YES, you're damn right it is.