Is Downloading Theft?
Public Defender Dude asks:
Downloading is not the equivalent of shoplifting or theft because you are not depriving the owner permanently of its possession; which I believe is an element of theft.
Downloading files is more perfectly analogous to me showing up at a record store with a portable cd ripper and sitting in the "Used CD" section copying any and all tracks, but without ever actually removing the product from the store or depriving anyone of ownership of the disk.
Related Post: File Sharing equal threat as terrorism and drugs
Do you consider downloading theft? Do you think it is the same as walking into a store and stealing a CD? Or do you somehow consider it different because it's not actually taking anything tangible (ie - just a sound)?Unlike some others who get this answer wrong; I do not believe that downloading MP3s is the equivalent of shoplifting CDs from a record store.
Downloading is not the equivalent of shoplifting or theft because you are not depriving the owner permanently of its possession; which I believe is an element of theft.
Downloading files is more perfectly analogous to me showing up at a record store with a portable cd ripper and sitting in the "Used CD" section copying any and all tracks, but without ever actually removing the product from the store or depriving anyone of ownership of the disk.
Related Post: File Sharing equal threat as terrorism and drugs
1 Comments:
Exactly!
This is what I wrote a bit about last year. http://blogs.slashstar.com/tim/archive/2003/09/18/309.aspx
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