Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Very respect, it's very different.
If you tap into a power line or water main you are taking away a limited physical resource. Every litre of water that you take is 1 litre less for other people.
If you build an "unauthorised" receiver for electromagnetic signals broadcast from a satellite, you aren't taking anything away from anyone else. That is a situation precisely analogous to book piracy - you're taking something without paying for it, but you're not taking it away from other people. Of course that doesn't mean that it's not "wrong", but it is different from taking water or electricity.
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I disagree with you here. The "owners" of the
electromagnetic signals broadcast from a satellite are bombarding me (perhaps against my wishes) with their signal. I.e. they are freely "giving" me their signal whether I want it or not. Perhaps both legally and morally I have no right to use the signal without paying but "physically" it is quite different. To "pirate" an ebook, I have to "virtually" go somewhere and make an actual effort to obtain the "signal". But with the
electromagnetic signals broadcast from a satellite, I just have to utilize (or manipulate) what they "gave" to me.