Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Yes, I'm well aware of that. I was simply using it to illustrate that people do, in fact, use the term "theft" to describe situations which are not strictly theft, and everyone understands what is meant when they do.
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The problem with using theft a descriptive term for copyright infringement is that copyright infringement can be a whole class of different offences. While one person may want theft to only apply to someone downloading something illegally, another may want it applied to mash-ups or sampling, and yet others still may want it applied to the stripping of DRM.
It's not a good term precisely because everyone does not understand what is meant by it.
The only reason I know why people want to use theft as a shorthand for copyright infringement is that people already know that theft is wrong. They haven't done a great job convincing people that copyright infringement is wrong, and they're hoping that using the term theft will help.