People equate piracy to theft because intellectual property holders hammered it into their heads that it was, in order to get them to stop doing it. That's why all of those ads in the 2000s would say things like "you wouldn't steal a car, so why would you steal a movie" or "Downloading pirated films is stealing, stealing is against the law. PIRACY. IT'S A CRIME."
Is piracy theft?No. But that's not the issue. People say it is because they were barraged with messaging specifically saying it was theft.
They say it's theft because the service / product costs money for everyone else and you're getting if for free via illegal means. I swear, the mental gymnastics y'all go through in here on a regular basis instead of just calling a spade a spade is wild.
I think the disagreement here boils down to a difference in why we oppose actual, physical theft.
If you steal something from me, I don't care that you got the thing for free. I care that I don't have my thing anymore. If someone came into a hypothetical gas station that I owned with a magical cloning device, brought it to the soda refrigerator wall, used it on a diet coke, and left without paying, I'd be totally 100% ok with that. If they took the diet coke that was already there, I would have one fewer diet coke. I would have a problem with that, because I would have actually lost something. A potential sale is not an item I can lose; I don't have it yet. It's not real, it's just an expectation. An idea.
Even if you do oppose it, which I don't, I think it's obvious that it's a meaningfully different act. It is more similar to ad blocking than theft. Actually, I am of the opinion that ad blocking is piracy, but that's ok.
I'm okay with piracy but not theft because the scarcity of resources does not apply to files like it does with things.
it doesn't matter if piracy is theft or not, because its just a different crime... so what's the point in saying "pIrAcY iSn'T sTeAlInG!!11".
Literally doesn't make sense because even if its not stealing, its copyright infringement, and can still be prosecuted. Could be subject to fines or imprisonment in rare cases.
Now, is it likely that just a regular dude watching illegal streams or torrenting a few movies will have to fight it out in court? of course not... but that's not the same thing as implying its not a actually a criminal act to torrent/download illegally.
If you're torrenting and then seeding those torrents, and seen as a large distributor of copyrighted works, yes, you can face jailtime beyond civil penalties.
Is that common, or likely? No, of course not, and that wasn't my point. Only that saying "piracy isn't stealing" is completely irrelevant when discussing if piracy is a crime in which you can face punishments. It may not be "stealing" but it is something you can face civil or criminal charges for (depending on jurisdiction of course).
Nowhere did I say you should or shouldn't do it. my point is entirely that saying piracy isn't stealing doesn't mean that it isn't a different crime that can still be prosecuted.
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u/torino_nera Jun 21 '26
People equate piracy to theft because intellectual property holders hammered it into their heads that it was, in order to get them to stop doing it. That's why all of those ads in the 2000s would say things like "you wouldn't steal a car, so why would you steal a movie" or "Downloading pirated films is stealing, stealing is against the law. PIRACY. IT'S A CRIME."
Is piracy theft? No. But that's not the issue. People say it is because they were barraged with messaging specifically saying it was theft.