[plug] Re: "stealing"?

[Leon Brooks]

On Friday 15 November 2002 12:38 pm, Russell wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 15, 2002 at 11:20:40AM +0800, Leon Brooks wrote:
>> And to call a shovel a shovel, you don't support stealing AKA piracy,
>> including by providing platforms which encourage the practice.

> Hmmm.  You're not really talking about shovels.  Nor stealing, nor
> piracy.  I think you mean copyright infringement.  :)

Copyright infringement == stealing. They way that the copyright itself was 
obtained or is enforced may also be fraudulent - or effectively so - but that 
doesn't make copying things for which you have no right to copy any less 
stealing.

> Seriously, for people to understand the issues involved, the correct
> terms need to be used.  Calling copyright infringement "stealing"
> reinforces the attitude that restrictive copyright practices are ok,
> and that it's also ok to have harsh penalties for what are really
> victimless crimes.

I don't agree with most of the systems in place for supporting traditional 
copyrighting practices, but nevertheless they are not victimless crimes.

The term `victimless crime' is in itself a very dodgy one. In the general 
sense, it presumes that your knowledge is all-encompassing enough to be 
certain about whether or not a practicular cime truly is victimless, and this 
is essentially never true.

My attitude to copyrighted software is that it an invitation to use an Open 
equivalent, write one if no equivalent exists, or choose to do without. Note 
that none of the above options are `steal it' or `whine about it'.

My attitude to the current effective-monopoly that RIAA and fellow travellers 
have in the field of music is the same, meaning that I generally don't shop 
for my own personal music in stores full of Celine Dion or Kate Bush, any 
more than I'd wander into Harvey Norman to buy a copy of Windows XP for the 
machine I'm typing on.

In other words, I exercise the third option rather than either steal or submit 
to extortion, with or without rationalisation of my theft or submission.

Cor de Leon here is not an idealist. There are some monopolies and ogliarchies 
with funny behind-the-scenes pricing arrangements that I do submit to for 
lack of a reasonable alternative, such as Telstra and Toyota.

Cheers; Leon