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| Topic | Pirating is not theft |
| Anteaterking 11/15/18 8:44:55 PM #37: | On_The_Edge posted... I don't really think the expressions are all that relevant to the moral question. But the identity theft and plagiarism examples are more interesting. I don't know enough about identity theft to make a worthwhile rebuttal, but might it be a case of using the wrong word? Is impersonation the same as theft? Maybe it is, I'm not sure, it's an interesting case. But see, you're already going away from the moral question anyway. You follow it up with "Is theft the right word for identity theft?" which isn't a moral question. It's exactly the etymological question that those expressions show has not held for a while. On_The_Edge posted... With the plagiarism it seems to me what you steal when you plagiarize is the fame/recognition/money that would have accrued to the original owner. I'm not sure if piracy is stealing anything. I would agree for sure that if you intentionally distribute pirated material, that is theft, since you're stealing potential profits. But if you are a consumer who would not otherwise purchase the material, are you depriving the creator of anything by downloading it? Maybe you are, I'm not trying to obtuse I'm actually really interested in the question For one, I'm not sure if the argument of "I'm not stealing, I'm just benefiting from other people stealing" is a worthwhile one. As to the second part, I think the question of whether you would have purchased it or not is unimportant, because it obviously follows from however you feel about piracy. If you think that using a creator's product without permission is bad, then taking it is still bad even if you wouldn't have it otherwise. If you think that physical things are all that matter, then whether they would buy it or not is irrelevant. --- ... Copied to Clipboard! |
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