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Copyright v. Piracy: "It's not theft." | by Illiad | 2008-08-27 16:36:18 |
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It does no harm. | by hej | 2008-08-27 16:45:08 |
| harm can be defined in several ways... |
by perlcat45 |
2008-08-27 17:51:12 |
| What we are talking about here is an opportunity cost. The concert giver is denied the chance to use the full capacity of the venue in the way they want. The concert goer without ticket is in effect saying "I can extort the use of a seat by sneaking under the turnstile." Just because it is possible doesn't mean it is a good idea.
Although the entire venue isn't in use, that does not justify taking unavailable seats without permission. Maybe the concert giver was saving 200 seats for their mother and friends? Maybe they have a threshold for their fear of crowds hard-coded to 801 people?
People say a lot of things to justify taking without paying -- in a chaotic good universe, maybe they can make these things work out.
The concert analogy is a good one, because it can be extended to cover recording and fair use. Some concerts say it is OK to bring cameras, others say no. One of the most disturbing trends I see are all the twits that take their cell phone cameras into the venue and record the concert. I am glad that the sound quality is so poor on them -- but in reality, they have no right to record in most circumstances, and I really wish more would get escorted out.
I used to work in retail, and one of the aphorisms we were taught was that 10% of all people will steal regardless of consequences or motivation. 10% will never steal regardless of consequences or motivation. 80% will steal if they believe they will not get caught, or if there is a perceived benefit that oughtweighs the risks. Does 80% of all people doing this make it all right? I would certainly disagree. Theft is theft, regardless of the justification, whether it is a house, a pension fund, a car, a loaf of bread, the contents of the 7-11 till, a master's thesis, or a piece of bubble gum, so I can't see where the taking of something intangible that doesn't belong to you is not stealing. It's just like Joanna said in Office Space: "I still don't understand how it's not stealing."
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