From: Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Date: Wed Jul 17 2002 - 07:47:46 MDT
>From: Anders Sandberg <asa@nada.kth.se>
>> Brian D Williams wrote:
>> Is it still theft when 10's of millions are doing it?
>> Yes.
>The real issue is, was it theft in the first place? And if culture
>and law changes, is it still theft? And perhaps most important, is
>it immoral?
I was speaking as if I were a member of a jury. Yes as I understand
copyright law it is theft, no, if the law changes it is no longer
theft, and I do not think it moral to deprive someone else of the
benefit of their work.
>To a large extent theft is culturally constructed (ouch, I hate
>saying things like that!): what is and isn't theft is defined not
>by natural law but by cultural norms - witness how taxation is
>accepted as most as non-theft while libertarians consider it theft
>but lack the cultural clout to make it so. Similarly for borrowing
>pens - as long as they are cheap and not very necessary few mind,
>even if technically the diffusion of pens is a lot of theft.
If "culturally constructed" causes you grief "natural law" must be
agony.
And yes theft is a matter of social convention, "borrowing" a pen
is a different thing from deliberately stealing a pen, and using
technology to make a copy of copyrighted material to avoid paying
for it falls under theft, not borrowing.
>So instead of debating endlessly over whether file sharing is
>theft or not, we should perhaps ask ourselves 1) what are the
>benefits and failings of this activity, 2) what does these imply
>morally, and 3) what solutions - legal, technical, economical -
>can create the best outcome?
1) It benefits the thief and deprives the rightful owner.
2) Once you justify theft it becomes easier.
3) Legal, apprehend and try those you can.
Technical, current technology cannot prevent this theft, unless
you block these protocols at the NAPs.
Economical, use legal means to halt economic loss.
>What worries me most right now isn't theft, but that the fear of
>theft leads to a closing of technology in order to protect
>obsolete business plans. If the record industry is saved at the
>price of the ability to do arbitrary computations or the
>possibility for ordinary people to be media producers, then it has
>not been worth it.
I don't think file sharing technology should be banned, nor will it
be. It seems likely that in the face of now staggering losses the
recording industry is going to be taking additional legal action
soon, starting with so called "superusers".
Brian
Member:
Extropy Institute, www.extropy.org
National Rifle Association, www.nra.org, 1.800.672.3888
SBC/Ameritech Data Center Chicago, IL, Local 134 I.B.E.W
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