18 Jan
2003
18 Jan
'03
6:41 a.m.
I wrote:
> Unauthorized copying is, under some (but not all)
> cirucumstances, illegal and/or unethical, but it is NOT
> theft. It is a different sort of offsense.
Wayne M. Smith wrote:
I believe that the commonly applied term is
"piracy."
Which term I refuse to use, because it isn't any more "piracy" than
it is "theft". Copyright infringement is an entirely separate class
of offense, both ethically and legally.
In fact, the legal remedies for copyright infringement are
substantially more severe than those for theft of physical objects.
I'd love to hear a good explanation of why that should be.