Quote:
Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer
Look up theft in the Criminal Code and you'll find that it doesn't cover copyright infringement. Theft is a criminal offense whereas copyright infringement is not. Words have specific (and important) meanings, even if that meaning isn't what you would like it to be.
I'm not saying infringement is okay because it's not theft, but I am saying there's no point in having a discussion if you can't at least understand the important distinction.
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I don't think it's an important distinction at all unless you're arguing in front of a jury. The fact that you reference the legal definition in the criminal code just emphasizes my point. In the real world, insisting that copyright infringement is not theft and that that distinction is somehow important, is really just parsing words, ie. hiding behind the dictionary or criminal code as it were. Regardless of how the dictionary or code currently defines it, you're acquiring something that doesn't belong to you and depriving the creator of his rights in doing so.
Also, I'm not trying to justify a stricter copyright. I'm suggesting that people respect author's rights as they exist now.
It's one thing to take an artist's work without paying for it, and realizing that it may be a small wrong, but it's still wrong. It's something else to then go on to say "Well, it's not theft," or "It's free advertising," or "I wouldn't have bought it, rented it, or read it, anyway," or any of the other many justifications I've read here.
Edit: I know full well how the dictionary and criminal code defines theft. What I don't know is why some people are so insistent that the legal definition is what matters in this case, and why making that distinction is so important when it's tangential at best. And I'm not really talking about this thread in particular. I've had this go-round with other people in other threads.
I got a pm a couple of years ago during a similar discussion from someone who said basically "Don't call it theft, you'll have them all over you insisting that it isn't theft." I see it as theft, and I call it theft.
And regarding vitriol, there's plenty of it coming from the other side. As I've said before, I tangled with some pro-piracy posters (now gone) who decided to follow me around the forums and object to everything I said, and insult me at every turn. I ended up leaving the boards for a year because of the harassment.
Further Edit: And if insisting that author's rights are more important makes me a "copyright troll," then I'm happy to be one.