No. While I don't believe in karma, I do believe there are consequences to misbehavior, even if one is not caught: The temerity and lack of ethics to appropri

No. While I don't believe in karma, I do believe there are consequences to misbehavior, even if one is not caught: The temerity and lack of ethics to appropriate a project that someone else has written and claim it as one's own leaks into other areas of one's life. That kind of behavior is not isolated to just open-source software. Perhaps the world-weary thief of the OP took his experience as a lesson and changed his ways, but he likely continued bumbling around, behaving dishonestly, losing the respect of his peers along the way. Perhaps even that of family and friends. Perhaps he miscounts the points in a boardgame, or cheats on his spouse, but it won't be limited to this. Contrast that to the life and career arc of the OP himself. So, no, the fools are those who steal, caught or not.