(07-21-2009, 05:19 PM)Lavazza Wrote: I believe it is stealing. I believe the definition of stealing is taking without permission. Who is stealing from who or what is being taken becomes moot after the fact.
If my definition of stealing is in error, please help me understand. No sarcasm intended- I really mean it.
What I am hearing is justification for stealing. That is another matter and I am seeing that I am not well equipped to debate that part. Could be that stealing music is totally justified. Maybe it is not. It's a personal conclusion... I have mine, others will make their own.
But we should at least call it what it is, stealing.
I am not attempting to justify stealing. I am attempting to point out that, if copying music is stealing, then so is loaning a book, because the contents, both of which are intangibles, are being shared with another without permission.
To show that the product is an intangible: If you copy the cd, you still have the original cd. The piece of plastic that stores the music is still intact, and in fact the music on the original cd is still there. But the music itself has been shared, like a candle flame lighting another candle. Therefore the music is an intangible.
Likewise, if you loan a book to someone and the person reads it, the story has been transferred to another mind. That person returns your book, so nothing was stolen. However, the story or info contained in that book has been shared, like a candle flame lighting another candle. Is there another copy of the story? Not precisely, but there might as well be, because the emotions evoked by the story, or the usefulness of the knowledge contained in that book, now dwells in the mind of another person who did not buy that book.
How are they any different?
Has anyone here ever loaned a book to someone?
The only difference I see, really, is in quantity. We don't usually loan a book to hundreds or thousands of people. But when someone puts music up for download, there's no telling how many people will download it.
Is it any more or less stealing based on how many people access the intangible item?