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Comment by gherkinnn

3 days ago

> If buying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/08/playstationed/#tyler-jame...

Correct: it's copyright infringement, not theft.

  • Which is on the side of the distributor, not the end recipient.

    • For streaming yes, but downloads are still copyright infringement on the part of the downloader. An unauthorized copy is being made on the recipient's machine. It's true that copyright holders rarely pursue cases against individuals, and tend to focus on distributors though.

      16 replies →

Piracy isn't stealing regardless of whether or not buying is owning.

  • copyright infringement is not theft, it is also not piracy.

    Piracy is a real crime, I am tempted to describe it as theft of goods under transport. But it is probably much more complex than that. It also shares many similarities with organized crime(a company of men decide to ignore the law).

    Anyway you slice it, people probably just want the crime to sound(worse/cooler) than it really is. It always sorts of bugs me to equate one of the worst crimes to one of the least. Might as well call it "software rape" at that point. And that is probably closer to the actual crime than piracy.

  • I fully understand you, but then, copying copyrighted data can't be piracy (because literal piracy is stealing).

> PlayStation Store users who bought movies

"PlayStation Store users who bought a limited license to play a movie on approved devices and approved displays, revocable at any moment with no or minimal notice".

There, FTFY.

  • Which I'm fine with, if and only if the "Buy" button is explicitly labeled "Buy a limited, revocable with no notice, license."

    • They EU could just require these companies to label the button "license" instead of "buy"