Staying focused on one simple principle clears away any confusion: creative artists have a right to be paid. If we enjoy a piece of recorded music, a book, drawing, photo, movie, and the condition of owning a copy of that work is paying for it, then not paying for it is stealing. Legally it is copyright infringement, but I call it stealing, just like shoplifting or any petty theft.
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spanky
14 years 12 weeks 3 hours 58 min ago
Copying is not stealing!
And copyright infringement is not "piracy".
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html
TDTwister
14 years 11 weeks 6 days 20 hours ago
One of my best topics
Stealing is the act of taking someones property and the real crime is that the rightful owner does not have ("the item") to use it as he or she wish. Copying is many things but stealing is not. You can say that is a copyright violation in some cases but that is all it is.
About the GPL violation... GPL violation is not when you copy the software but when you refuse to give to anyone who receive the program or a modified version of it the rights you agree you should give him. This is also a copyright violation.
The real different is that in one case you are breaking the copyright agreement to share something that "you shouldn't" in order to maintain the social structure. In the other case you simply refuse to share something that "you should".
What is the more serious crime is up anyone to figure it out.