Quote:
Originally Posted by Iphinome
scveteran I believe the argument is nothing was taken because the person claiming theft hasn't lost any property.
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This is just a case where the law needs to be update to cover digital products.
Before the ONLY way to steal a book, album, movie etc. was to steal a physical copy of it. And yes that deprives a store, publisher, author etc. of a copy.
Thus aside from going to the library, or borrowing a copy from a friend, if you wanted to read a book you had to buy a copy. You could have gotten a photocopied version I suppose, but that wasn't all that common.
In the digital era, if you want to read a book without paying for it, you can just go online, hit the torrent sites and download a copy without paying a time with minimal effort for a popular book.
The publishers, e-book stores, authors etc. haven't been deprived of a physical copy of anything, but they have lost a potential sale, and you've got to enjoy the work without paying for it (nor getting it legitimately from a library, or friend who bought a copy and loaned it to you).
Thus the laws need to change as you can't steal a digital copy of something like you can a physical copy in terms of depriving someone of physical copy.
But "stealing" (or whatever you want to label it if you don't like using that word) a digital book, album, movie etc. should be a criminal law violation and not a civil violation.
In 50 years there probably won't be cds, dvds etc. There will probably be few physical books (if any). Thus the laws have to evolve to protect digital property as we move away form having physical property in many fields.
Just because it's currently (unfortunately) a civil matter, doesn't mean that's the way it should be, nor the way it will remain. It just means the criminal laws haven't caught up with the era of digital products yet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Elfwreck
And if the law believed copyright infringement was theft, the penalties for copying a single ebook or other digital file would be on par with petty theft, not the insane $150k-per-infringement possibility that inspires the RIAA to file hundreds of lawsuits.
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Laws need to adapt so that downloading a book, album, movie etc. illegally is treated similarly to petty theft.
Of course, their needs to be larger penalties for people distributing illegal copies of digital content to 100s or 1000s of people, just like it's more than petty theft if someone steals a shipment of 1000 cds and gives them away or sales them.
The times are changing and the law needs to catch up to deal with cyber crimes, illegal file sharing etc. that are replacing other methods (theft, shoplifting etc.) of illegally getting albums, books, movies etc.