[carlwaring]

Originally Posted by Dush

People shouldn't argue about copyright theft. Let those who think it is theft be and those who think it isn't be.

But I really do struggle to see how it can't be theft.

Theft
"The action or crime of stealing"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft
"In common usage, theft is the taking of another person's property without that person's permission or consent..."

Sounds like theft to me.

Now, okay, there is a bit missing off the end of that; which is....

"... with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it."

Which is, I assume, why they think they can justify it because the 'rightful owner' (eg movie studio or song's composer) still has their original version.

Of course, the problem with that is that every other copy in existence (ie sold or rented) is exactly that; a copy. But it is a legal copy for which the 'rightful owner' will be recompensed.

Those who think it is theft are generally older and will die out sooner or later leaving the majority who think it's not theft since they grew up downloading torrents.

And when all these "old folk" have died, and no-one pays for anything any more, do you think that big movie studios will spend millions on making films (or whatever) if they're not going to be able to make their money back?

Deeply moral issues change over the decades, something trivial like copyright theft will no doubt experience the same ebbs and flows.

There's nothing 'trivial' about theft.