Quote:
Originally Posted by pietrocrazy
What a nice strawman argument you have made here.
Copyright is not theft. Even most people who are pro-copyright agree that it is not theft. Even most people who think copyright infringement is morally wrong don't think it's theft. Even the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that copyright infringement is not theft.
Why are you and certain other people so attached to the idea that copyright infringement is theft? Do you think it's not possible for someone to make the argument that copyright infringement is wrong without the word "theft" or "stealing" involved? |
The problem is that "copyright infringement" has, for many people, become a term that does not imply any wrongdoing. The difference to theft is that the original owner still has a copy, but the similarity is that the infringer now has a copy he has taken by illegal means. Copyright gives the owner the almost exclusive right to create copies (with fair use exceptions) and if you get yourself a free copy you have trampled on his rights and unduly enriched yourself. In the end, what is important is that the infringer has obtained something he has no right to get without paying for it. Arguing "the original is still with the author" is just ridiculous semantics, trying to justify a despicable act. Whatever you call that act is another matter.
And let's face it -- most people who download illegal copies and try to argue their guilt away do so for purely selfish reasons. They just have this sense of entitlement that others should work for them for free. And a disclaimer here, I am just a reader, not an author. But unlike some, I do think that an author of a book I read deserves as much respect as the mechanic who fixes my car. I don't share the view that Western Society in particular should only pay people for manual labor and that anything that ever happens to be on a computer and can thus be easily copied is just worthless 1s and 0s. So if King Giggles's attitude prevails then very soon nobody will have any work. Perhaps Giggles can move to China and work on an Apple assembly line, that seems to be the only kind of job he considers worthy of getting paid for.