Morality and downloading

[Rev. Rye]

Suppose I take a copy of 'Great Expectations' off a shelf, stuff it in my bag and hook it out of the bookshop.  Is that stealing or piracy?  'Great Expectations' still exists - millions of copies, it's always in print, it's been filmed, and so on.  I'm not really hurting anyone, am I?  After all, my taking the book doesn't prevent anyone else from reading it.  Charles Dickens is dead, so he's not losing any money.  The publishers, I'm sure, expect a certain amount of loss and plan for it in their annual budgets.  The bookshop owner is insured.

So then, taking a hardbacked novel out of a bookshop without paying doesn't qualify as theft, correct?

Boru

Honestly, a more accurate analogy is taking a copy of Great Expectations, using your iPad to scan each and every page of it, turn it into a PDF and sending a copy of the newly-created PDF scan to someone else. The original book you used doesn't even have to leave the store (although the powers that be at the store may ask questions), but a copy has been made and, given the nature of the internet, there's a very real chance more copies will be made of that copy.

Honestly, the real downside for Filesharing is that, to quote Cracked:

See, when piracy hit Hollywood, they didn't stop funding blockbusters -- they stopped funding edgy, creative movies. They're going with safer and safer bets.
Piracy did that. We got that ball rolling, and there is no going back. Instead of Reservoir Dogs, we get Jack & Jill ... and you have no idea how deeply sorry I am for that