Quote:
Originally Posted by carld
>We need people to stop calling copyright infringement "stealing," for starters
I will never stop calling it stealing, because that's what it is.
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If I make an ebook out of a printed book, and email it to six of my friends, who no longer has a book because of it? Whose book have I stolen? If it's out of print, whose money have I stolen?
Perhaps more importantly--why do you insist it is stealing, when the law does not? Do you think that your personal morals should override the courts?
This kind of slander--and it is slander, or libel, to claim someone has committed a crime they have not--is a big part of why the filesharing community doesn't pay much attention to objections. They recognize that many of the objections have no foundation in legal reality, but are expressions of moral outrage.
I am sometimes persuaded to change my actions because they have, or could, hurt people. I am never persuaded to change them because someone is offended by them.
(This mini-rant is entirely related to calling copyright infringement "stealing," and has nothing to do with my thoughts on filesharing of ebooks. I'm strongly in favor of reasonably-priced, DRM-free ebooks, and I spend dollars in that direction and encourage my friends to do the same.)