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Originally Posted by WT Sharpe
I suppose pirated movies and songs don't cut into the profits of the major movie studios and recording companies, either.
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I would believe they would have less profit, but that doesn't make it theft. If I launched a campaign stating that Sony uses their profits to support Mexican drug lords, it would also cut into their profits, and still not be theft.
Having similar elements to theft doesn't make it theft, since it lacks a fundamental part of being theft: depriving the owner of it. For copyright infringement, it may result in less profit, but to have lost profit, you have to compare to a theoretical state which may not exist.
For example, I committed copyright infringement to download DJ Danger Mouse's "The Grey Album". It's not possible to download it legally because EMI, the copyright owner for the source material won't allow it to exist. I own both albums of the source material, Jay-Z's "Black Album" and the Beatle's "White Album". If they did release a legal version of it, I'd buy it. The owner hasn't lost any profit from me downloading it, and I've still committed copyright infringement.
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Originally Posted by HarryT
So, by your argument, "identity theft" is not "theft", because the original owner of the identity still has it? :chin scratch:
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In spite of the name, it's not really theft. It's a form of fraud. The information doesn't even have to be illegally taken to be used in identity theft, it can be committed by someone that has lawful access to your information that uses it in an unlawful way.