Quote:
Originally Posted by Iphinome
In what way does an infringing copy cause harm to the point of being a criminal act?
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Just think of the future when a book, album or movie is ONLY available as a digital file.
If someone downloads an illegal copy, they will NEVER buy a copy of it as they already have the exact file they'd pay to obtain.
Thus that company will never see a dime from them for that content, and I think that's cause for criminal harm. Just like someone who steals a DVD will never buy that DVD as they already have a copy.
The difference is in the digital age a store/company etc. hasn't lost a physical copy as there are NO physical copies to be stolen anymore. But in both cases a sale is lost. The difference is in the all digital future, only potential sales CAN be lost, as there is no more physical, tangible product to lose.
Fair use laws need to be redone to be much more clear as to what one can and can't do with their digital content they've bought. Hardly an insurmountable task. People should be able to make copies, put it on differen machines of theirs etc. They should be able to transfer/sell it to others second hand as long as they don't keep a copy for themselves (just like you can burn a copy of a CD for the car, but can't burn a copy then sell your originally legally etc.).
Tax is a non issue. You don't see the government suing thieves as they didn't get sales tax on items they obtained through stealing the physical items.