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Old 10-30-2008, 10:20 AM   #125
bill_mchale
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tompe View Post
I think that ethical they are totally different so you see the problem here. I do not accept the implied premise that you get if you call it theft.
On what basis do you consider it ethically different? Those of us who consider it the ethical equivalent of theft have laid out a clear case for it to be considered so (i.e. the denial of fair payment for the labor the author and publisher have put into producing the book that you are making use of).

The only case you have made is that most of the books you downloaded you wouldn't have bought anyway. Ethically that doesn't stand up, because a thief of a physical items could make the same case. The other argument you made was that you don't read most of what you download, so at most you are only stealing from the authors you actually read, but it doesn't matter because it is just one more of thousands you have downloaded (Kind of circular isn't it?). Ethically that doesn't stand up either because stealing a penny makes one just as guilty of theft as stealing a million dollars.

So, I want to know, what is your ethical justification for downloading the work of others and not paying them for that work?

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Bill
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