Quote:
Originally Posted by kazbates
Twisting a statement to suit your purposes has pretty much been the standard in this thread. There is no true justification for pirating someone else's property (whether digital or physical). The main excuses by those who do it is that they want it so they take it and since it's only a "copy" they aren't really hurting anyone. I think if you were the one who sweated heart and soul to produce something for which you would like compensation, you would feel quite differently.
|
There seems to be a misconception held by a number of people that it's necessary to be in favour of "pirating" in order to argue that it's not theft. It is not necessary. The legal position is quite clear, however, and doesn't require any twisting of statements.
Whether unauthorised copying
should be treated as theft is another question (I would argue no, but others have argued it should).
Whether unauthorised copying is
wrong, when the author has not been compensated (and it would have been practical to do so) is a further, different question (I would say that this
is wrong).
I
have put a lot of work into producing something (writing software as it happens) that I wanted compensation for - and for which I was compensated by the people who paid. But not everyone paid. I would not want those who copied my software to be branded as thieves. What would upset me would be someone else trying to profit by selling my work on (but that hasn't happened).
I think that the majority of people who are arguing that copying is not theft etc. are keen to see authors compensated, and have purchased plenty of ebooks. It's just that their view is more nuanced than "piracy is good" or "piracy is bad".