Quote:
Originally Posted by latepaul
Why? I thought he made a good point - traditionally a pirate describes someone who robs, kidnaps and kills at sea - a rather nasty criminal in fact. Morally and legally copyright infringement may be wrong but it's hardly in the same league.
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What exactly do you mean when you say "traditionally"? The use of the word "pirate" to describe someone who copies a printed work without the author's permission goes back to at least 1603 (Thomas Dekker's booklet "The Wonderfull Yeare", in which, attacking the common practice of reprinting works without permission, he says "Banish these Word-pirates, (you sacred mistresses of learning) into the gulfe of Barbarisme..."). The term is used in the 1886 International Berne Copyright convention, in which Article 12 states "Pirated works may be seized on importation into those countries of the Union where the original work enjoys legal protection."
You really can't write off the use of the term as some modern coinage, I fear.