From: Ross Bamford <rossrt@...>
Date: 2006-05-16T23:58:16+09:00
Subject: Re: Ticked Off

On Tue, 2006-05-16 at 21:35 +0900, Tim Becker wrote:
> Pirating a pdf is not theft. Stealing something implies that the owner is no
> in possession of that object. I.e. I steal your car, you no longer have a car.
> Pirating is copyright infringement. There is a difference, even if
> some people in this thread are implying copyright infringement is
> tantamount to murder.

I believe that "a person is guilty of theft if: he dishonestly
appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of
permanently depriving the other of it"*. Under those terms, I guess one
might argue piracy isn't theft. However, to do that, you'd miss the
point - I think the 'property' here isn't the intellectual property
itself, but the expected income from it's sale. You do not buy the
intellectual property - merely the right to a copy of it.**

As a general observation, I would have to say that if you want to steal,
then steal (just remember that what goes around comes around), but don't
try to pretend you're any better than a common thief simply because you
steal different stuff.

* (Actually, thats the definition under my local law)
** IANAL
-- 
Ross Bamford - rosco@roscopeco.REMOVE.co.uk