Permission to pirate

[Mark E. Hurling]

Mark, we're not actually talking about rape here.

Oh sorry. I take things too literally sometimes. Going back to sleep now.

[jkw]

Since it's MY data, if she takes it without compensating me, I consider it theft.

FWIW it is not theft, as you still have it too. It's copyright infringement. But no less illegal.

[quagmire]

OMG, I never realized before that The Libertarian and The Asshole are the same person. Huh.

Also, I never realized that The Libertarian is so intellectually challenged that she cannot understand concepts of ownership that are nonbinary.

On the other side, there is the case of viewing dvds on linux (a widely used free operating system).

DeCSS is a computer program capable of decrypting content on a commercially produced DVD video disc. Before the release of DeCSS, there was no way for computers running a Linux-based operating system to play video DVDs.

DeCSS was developed without a license from the DVD CCA, the organization responsible for DVD copy protection — namely, the Content-Scrambling System (CSS) used by commercial DVD publishers. The release of DeCSS resulted in a Norway criminal trial and subsequent acquittal of one of the authors of DeCSS. The DVD CCA launched numerous lawsuits in the United States in an effort to stop the distribution of the software.

https://w2.eff.org/IP/Video/DVDCCA_case/

[Mark Rippetoe]

FWIW it is not theft, as you still have it too. It's copyright infringement. But no less illegal.

So that which can be copied cannot be stolen?

[Gunnhild Bruno]

FWIW it is not theft, as you still have it too. It's copyright infringement. But no less illegal.

As Rip clearly intends to use his copyrights of his books for profit and does so, copyright infringements of those books does, in fact, amount to theft.

[mikejm]

So that which can be copied cannot be stolen?

Eh, there's a pretty good segment of the people who are opposed to intellectual property rights who say that for something to be "stolen" then someone must be deprived of that item. Something tangible and/or not immediately or freely reproducible must be transferred from one person to another. Since typical piracy is simple duplication, no one is necessarily deprived of the product in question. It's a bit spurious to say the least.
Patent and IP laws are a bit of a mess, and there's quality arguments from just about every perspective regarding them. This is not one of them.

[jkw]

So that which can be copied cannot be stolen?

As Rip clearly intends to use his copyrights of his books for profit and does so, copyright infringements of those books does, in fact, amount to theft.

No, things that can be copied can be stolen. If I break into your computer and copy a file and then delete the original you could probably consider that theft as you don't have it anymore. It really just comes down to the definition of theft, and copying something for which you have no permission to do so is not theft if you don't deprive the owner of it.

In common usage, theft is the taking of another person's property without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it.

[quagmire]

As Rip clearly intends to use his copyrights of his books for profit and does so, copyright infringements of those books does, in fact, amount to theft.

Not necessarily. In the aggregate, yes, Rip is being made bereft of potential $$$; for given any particular person who does copyright infringement, Rip may or may not being made bereft of potential $$$. In that the the woman pirating would not have bought the book otherwise, even if she could not pirate.

Thus, copyright infringement is technically different.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Copyright infringement and piracy are two different offenses. Of the two, copyright infringement is the more serious, because it involves more than just depriving the owner of the profit for a copy.

[Mcpie]

What do you mean, that the DVD is not a digital media?

It is digital media on a physical device that I find inaccessible-- in fact, I'm not overly certain where my copy is right now, and even then, I've built my machines without DVD players for ~5 years now.

I store most of my stuff on a central hub in my house. I assumed the DVD had some copyright protection of some sort (I never checked), and downloading a copy is easier than going through any process to get it onto said machine which makes it easy for me to access from any device. For the record, I see 0 issue with downloading it since I own a copy. Was wondering if I am alone in that.