Quote:
Originally Posted by Format C:
So, I'm OK with a 50x fine, as long as the actual reading of the book is proved beyound any reasonable doubt.
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So if you sneak into a movie, is it OK unless it is proved beyond any reasonable doubt that you actually watched the film? This seems unreasonable to me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeD
Counterfeiting money or other items DOES have a victim. The person who ends up receiving those goods believing they're real.
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So would you say that counterfeiting is OK if the bills are indistinguishable from those produced by the legitimate sovereign printer? I would say it is equally wrong.
Did I just equate downloading a book with counterfeiting? No. Counterfeiting is wrong because it dilutes the value of other copies of that bill. Downloading doesn't do that. However, I would compare uploading a copyrighted book to a web site to counterfeiting, since it dilutes the value of other copies of the book.
P.S. I realize one big difference between counterfeiting and uploading is that the counterfeiter does it for selfish reasons, and the uploader probably thinks he or she is doing other people a service. It's ironic that good motives sometimes lead to bad actions.