• pivot_root@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Theft requires you to deprive the original owner of their property.

    Creating a digital copy does not prevent the creator from accessing or selling their property. Potential income is not property; it was never in their possession to begin with.

    • Zoolander@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      You’re arguing a legal definition. I am not.

      I am arguing that people deserve to be paid for their work. If you’re not willing to pay them, you are not entitled to the fruits of their labor for free. Full stop.

      • pivot_root@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        It’s not just the legal definition. It’s the dictionary definition, as well.

        Piracy is illegal, unethical, a small loss in net profit, and a whole bunch of other things. It’s just not theft. If it really needs to be given a label that isn’t “piracy”, the closest one you’re going to find is “appropriation”:

        noun. the action of taking something for one’s own use, typically without the owner’s permission.

        • Zoolander@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          It is theft, by your own definition. By the dictionary definition that you just posted, you’re stealing (“the action or crime of stealing”) income from the creator, unless they’re explicitly giving that creation away for free.

            • Zoolander@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              How does that do anything other than prove my point?

              “without permission or legal right”

              • pivot_root@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                the action or offense of taking another person’s property without permission or legal right and without intending to return it; theft.

                Piracy isn’t taking property without the intention to return it. The pirated media itself is property, but it’s being copied rather than stolen. The potential profits from selling said media to you is being taken, but that’s not tangible property capable of being stolen.

                On the other hand, piracy is appropriation. It’s just doesn’t meet the criteria of theft/stealing.

                • Zoolander@lemmy.world
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                  9 months ago

                  Now you’re just arguing semantics. Argue the point. Do people deserve to be paid for the work that they create and, if not, why are you entitled to view and consume the fruit of their labor without paying for it (with the exception of them explicitly granting that)?