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I would never consider it theft, because I think the conversion of information into property and the criminalisation of copying is fundamentally misguided. It
by incompatible 9y ago
I would never consider it theft, because I think the conversion of information into property and the criminalisation of copying is fundamentally misguided.
It does of course enable certain capitalist business models which involve controlling a scarce resource, even though in this case the scarcity is artificial and threatened by the likes of Sci-Hub.
- gowld 9y ago"Information" is simply the name for products with 0 marginal cost. If marginal cost is 0.001$, is stealing it OK? $1? $100? Marginal cost is not the same as average cost. If it's OK to steal something that has high fixed cost but 0 marginal cost, then surely it's OK to steal groceries, or houses, which have low fixed costs and high marginal costs, yes?
- incompatible 9y agoI don't consider it possible to steal information, because when I make my copy it doesn't deprive anybody else of their own copies. That would be the case even if I had a ridiculously expensive Internet connection and it cost me $1 to download it. Physical goods can't be copied in that way.
- cesarb 9y ago> I don't consider it possible to steal information, because when I make my copy it doesn't deprive anybody else of their own copies. According to that definition, it is possible to steal information: just delete their copies after making yours.