Piracy is Not Theft: Problems of a Nonsense Metaphor
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Piracy is Not Theft: Problems of a Nonsense Metaphor
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Re: Piracy is Not Theft: Problems of a Nonsense Metaphor
#2>...Paulo Coelho made a Russian translation of The Alchemist available without permission from his publisher. As a result the sales in Russia skyrocketed from 1,000 books a year to over 1,000,000.
I feel uncomfortable with this example because it was the author who chose to give his book away.
I'm of a mixed mind about piracy in regards to media content. I don't agree with it but it's the only thing that manages to force content owners to rethink their business model. If it wasn't for Napster and the like, there wouldn't be an iTunes or Spotify. If it was up to them we would still be paying $20 for a CD. The same is happening with TV and movies and I'm sure they will be facing the same situation as broadband gets faster.
I don't include the print industry in this because they are more lost than any other because it's so poorly run.
Re: Piracy is Not Theft: Problems of a Nonsense Metaphor
#3I think the argument whether a copy is theft is irrelevant. In my view, hacking into a bank's database and adding a few thousand dollars to your bank balance would be theft as well even if you didn't modify any other accounts or data. The point is that you steal money from the copyright owners when you copy their work without their permission because you owe them money you and you didn't pay.
Re: Piracy is Not Theft: Problems of a Nonsense Metaphor
#4I think the argument whether a copy is theft is irrelevant. In my view, hacking into a bank's database and adding a few thousand dollars to your bank balance would be theft as well even if you didn't modify any other accounts or data. The point is that you steal money from the copyright owners when you copy their work without their permission because you owe them money you and you didn't pay.
Adding a thousand dollars to your bank balance does deprive others. It's hard to take anything else you say seriously when you make such a basic mistake.
Re: Piracy is Not Theft: Problems of a Nonsense Metaphor
#5I think the argument whether a copy is theft is irrelevant. In my view, hacking into a bank's database and adding a few thousand dollars to your bank balance would be theft as well even if you didn't modify any other accounts or data. The point is that you steal money from the copyright owners when you copy their work without their permission because you owe them money you and you didn't pay.
Adding a thousand dollars to your bank balance does deprive others. It's hard to take anything else you say seriously when you make such a basic mistake.
But that's exactly my point. In my view, you also deprive the interested parties in copyright when you don't pay for the content you use or redistribute.
There's no need for ad hominem attacks, we're all civil, nice people on Hacker News.
Re: Piracy is Not Theft: Problems of a Nonsense Metaphor
#6Piracy and copying seem to have more to do with the accessibility/usability of a product than its cost per se. In that sense, piracy is the market attempting to provide what people want when the copyright owners are unwilling to do so.
Here's an example (I deliberately picked an issue that seems trivial): I deeply resent DVDs that force me to stare at the FBI/INTERPOL warning for several seconds before I can advance to the menu - which also frequently takes a long time to load - or, God forbid, the actual movie. (Again, this is not even to raise the issue of DVD Regions, different release dates for different areas, and all that nonsense.)
These things are steady, low-grade reminders that the heavy-handed UI wrapped around the movie exists to accommodate someone else's interests, not mine. If a DVD is really egregious - and that seems increasingly to be the case - I'll rip the movie, strip out the menus, warnings and other crap, and re-burn it or just watch it on my computer. Yet I can't help but notice that it's easier simply to download the torrent of a movie than it is to rip it from a DVD.
Now consider that in Canada, where I live, a planned update to our federal copyright legislation would make it a criminal offence to make a personal copy of a DVD I legally purchased for my own use - with no exception for "fair use", which doesn't exist in Canadian copyright law (we have "fair dealing", which is weaker and more limited in scope than "fair use"). It would be illegal because DVDs are nominally protected by DRM - even though the encryption was broken 12 years ago - and it is a criminal offence to break a 'digital lock' for any reason.
Re: Piracy is Not Theft: Problems of a Nonsense Metaphor
#7Question for the article author: Could you explain why "piracy" is not also a nonsense metaphor?
Piracy is an act of robbery and/or criminal violence at sea.
It feels like 99% of arguments are between people who haven't clearly defined the meaning of words they are arguing over.
Re: Piracy is Not Theft: Problems of a Nonsense Metaphor
#8Depriving others of revenue IS theft. If the terms of use for a service or product require payment then any use without payment is, in effect, theft. These juvenile justifications are how 13-year olds comfort themeselves about their behaviour. Don't want to pay? Don't use it.
Re: Piracy is Not Theft: Problems of a Nonsense Metaphor
#9"Bootlegging" always seemed like a more appropriate term to me. Although perhaps that has the connotation attached that the illegal distributor is profiting from the materials in question.
Re: Piracy is Not Theft: Problems of a Nonsense Metaphor
#10"There is no loss when something is copied, or the loss is radically different from losing something like your bike..."
The question is not about tangible loss, it's about property rights, and the forceful encroachment thereof.
Being semantically picky about the concept doesn't alter the fact that the property of one individual is interacted with apart from their prerogative, i.e., their right to property is being violated - by force.
There is a loss when something is copied by force, the loss of one's right to private property. Call it theft or not, the legal repercussions should be the same.