Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben Thornton
It seems to me that it is a mistake to label something as a felony (which means a serious crime) if it would make the majority into criminals. Laws should be there to serve society, not to criminalise everyone.
In my view, some unauthorised copying is wrong (and some isn't) - but none of it seems like theft to me at all. On balance, I think that the law is biased too much in the favour of large corporations - as in so many areas. I would suggest that the law needs relaxing (in most countries), not tightening up to pick on individuals who copy a few files. How do their crimes compare with, say, the financial crimes perpetrated by corporations over the last decade which have resulted in the current recession, and for which they are, by and large, escaping not only unpunished, but in many cases massively rewarded?
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That is a matter for a completely different discussion. But I don't think somebody else's wrongdoing should be an excuse to justify one's own.