• state_electrician@discuss.tchncs.de
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      10 months ago

      “Theft” has a legal definition that at least in my jurisdiction is not met by downloading copyrighted materials. So, no, copying is not stealing.

        • Aceticon@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          It’s legally called “Copyright Infrigement” and it’s not even part of Criminal Law in most Legal Jurisdictions, unlike Theft.

          You’re talking off your arse so hard that by now you must hovering on your own farts.

        • state_electrician@discuss.tchncs.de
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          10 months ago

          You are wrong. You are talking about copyright infringement, which is a civil matter and not a criminal one. That means the party whose rights have been infringed must prove that and sue you. But you won’t go to jail if convicted, you’ll have to pay damages. That’s why the Netherlands, for example, used to be safe for torrenting. It wasn’t legal, but copyright holders did not have the right to get account details from providers for IP addresses that were caught sharing content (sharing, not downloading) and thus had no one to sue. If it were a criminal matter, the state would be after you and they have a lot more rights.

    • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
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      10 months ago

      In this case, the phrase’s become more popular because people buy digital goods and, due to business shenanigans, they lose access to it, like buying a digital copy of a movie, “owning it”, then no longer being able to access it because Sony couldn’t be arsed to get the rights sorted out.

      There’s also the numerous situations where you can’t legally own media, simply because it’s not up for sale, like the vast majority of content on streaming sites. There’s no way to own and consume some media except through the provider. It’s still illegal, it’s still an unauthorized copy, but in this case, it’s the only way to “own” something.

        • Aceticon@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          By that definition making coffee at home and taking it with you to work instead of buying is theft.

          Even further anytime you make a product or do a service yourself or get a free alternative (for example, open source software instead of a close-source alternative) instead of buying would be theft by that definition.

          That’s not the legal definition of “theft”, it’s not even the historical or common sense definition of “theft”, it’s some kind of neo-Capitalist Dystopia definition of “theft” that only makes sense if you’re starting from a foundation of there being a “right to make money”.

          • Jojo@lemm.ee
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            10 months ago

            How dare you cook dinner for yourself when McDonald’s is right there? How will the franchise owners or the brand owners be able to buy meals for their children!?

        • Kedly@lemm.ee
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          10 months ago

          Look man, I get that piracy isnt an ethically clean solution, but the current state of legal digital media is nowhere near ethically clean either, and I’m far more likely to root for a person than I am for a corporation. Especially since its because of corporations that the digital ownership sphere is so fucked

    • 018118055@sopuli.xyz
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      10 months ago

      I will gladly take a position of moral superiority, because copyright has evolved from a very limited monopoly, intended to encourage creativity while balancing public access, into a licence for corporations to seek rent.

      So, call it stealing if you like, I will sleep well tonight regardless.

        • 018118055@sopuli.xyz
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          10 months ago

          The only theft going on is the ongoing theft from the public domain, due to corruption of copyright law by special interests enabled by law for hire. Your analogy is irrelevant as the marginal cost of operating a park for an extra visitor is not zero.

        • Iamdanno@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          He didn’t take the movie/music from them. They still have it. It still exists on their tape/film/drive. If you are going to argue, at least argue in good faith, with words that mean what you are trying to say.

        • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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          10 months ago

          It’s like refusing to pay the $20 park entrance fee and then making your own copy of the park in your backyard. Is that stealing $20 from the park?

          • Jojo@lemm.ee
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            10 months ago

            I mean it’s still possibly copyright and/or trademark infringement, but…

    • Jarix@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      It’s not stealing unless you delete the original when you download it. It’s forgery at best