Sorry if this has been brought up here before but it's a hard isssue to search for, and I don't remember it.

But recently on another forum we were talking about stealing.

Many people were very against stealing. There was flamming directed towards the members that admited to stealing when they go to wallmart or whatever.

Then someone brought up the topic of digital theft.

How does digital theft (Downloading music, Photoshop, etc) differ from stealing that candy bar from Wallmart?

Almost all the people who were very anti theft in real concrete possession, admited to downloading music.


So is stealing ok when there are no possible consequences to you? That seems to be the case..

I think it's cruel, even if you're just doing it to spite "the man." If you think about it, the lost money from CD sales isn't coming out of the executive salaries, the salaries of the guys up at the top who you hate so much. The money is coming out of the janitor's paycheck, and out of those of a hundred other low-ranking employees. It's sad really.

/me runs

I am going to lay it in simple terms: Concequences are abound when we steal from walmart. We are in the territory of the 'man.' But in the beauty of kazaa, or e-mule, we are protected by a monitor. The concequences seem simplistically silly when you're just clicking away. People don't realize that the clicking they do IS stealing.

JediKirby

So then.. why not just not do it.. don't say it's wrong them be a hypocrite and steal when you can get away with it. I guess that's my point.

Yes, many people fail to grasp this concept.

They view taking an object in a store as ethically and morally wrong, and as stealing.

However, online its a totally different ball game. You just click and that's it. No increased heart rate from stealing something. No adrenaline from being daring.

People just fail to see it.

A candy bar is a physical object. A file has no being.

I have an illegal copy of REM's "Losing My Religion" and a legal copy of the Crossing's "Dochas" on my computer. A few Ctrl Cs and Vs later, I have twenty copies of each. What is the worth of each file? Am I creating wealth by copying them over and over? I delete half of them. I split them among ten different media. I give nine away to friends who all listen to the songs, but never at the same time. This is functionally equivalent to buying the CDs and selling them to each other in some sort of daisy chain. I play a legitimate copy of Max Payne for a week after a four month hiatus. Two weeks ago, somebody played a warezed copy for a week. This is functionally the same as if I sold them my copy, and then they had sold it back to me.

I could make a software program that loaned out legitimate copies of any media not currently in use by their owners. I have 1500 mp3s on my Zen. I'm only listening to between zero and one of them at any one time.

All this rambling to say: Dude, it breaks down. Stealing a candy bar is not copying that floppy.

If you download something, you're taking away potential profit from having to buy it.

If you physically steal something, it's taking away stock that was paid for by the company. Thus you're stealing their immediate profit, along with making them pay for what you stole with other profit.

They're both stealing, digital theft is just blown out of proportion. I admit it's wrong (at least for the most part), but it does get blown out of proportion.

Kirby summed it up pretty well.

I'm with Freelancer on this one. Sadly, these discussions never involve the facts, but instead logical leaps and false assumptions, with no evidence ever cited. It's already evident that this thread is already going in that direction, so I fear I must decline to contribute. After reading so many pages of unsubstantiated claims and false allegations in the last few threads regarding this subject, I must admit that I've become jaded and doubt that anyone actually wants to discuss the known facts on the matter, or even to admit that it's simply too early to make an educated decision. Farewell.

I say that Kazzaa is not theft, although you should consider the files you downloaded as "samples" and then delete them. You shouldn't burn CD's...