Quote:
Originally Posted by kennyc
I don't call it illegal copying, I call it theft because we have to look at things differently in the Digital age.
I don't like the choices very much either. I think the same concepts should apply to digital as to print. If you make a copy for your own uses without giving it away or sharing with others, then all it's fine. If you "distribute" it to someone else, then it's not. It's boils down to an author's (creator's) rights to me.
|
I personally believe that the same concepts do not apply. There still should be shown a difference.
If you steal something, you're taking something away from a person. If you copy, the owner isn't deprived of it, you just have it when you shouldn't. The most you could really argue is that for each instance, there was the loss of a single potential sale. Note that I said potential, since that changes things a bit. Most pirates I know fall into one of two groups, they use it to sample before purchasing, especially the stuff not available in their region, or they just are cheap bastards that likely wouldn't buy it even when piracy isn't an option.
One guy I know, lost his net connection for several months after he was caught pirating. In that time did he didn't buy any movies, or books, or music. You'd have figured since one of his primary sources of entertainment was no more, that he'd go after something else, but he just kept on being cheap and stuck to other free sources of entertainment.
That cheapskate, actually is representative of most of the pirates I've met over the years. If free isn't an option, they just do without. Is that really a loss to the content owner?