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I generally don't like the use of a metaphor as an argument since it often misses the point. Watching a movie without paying is not the same as stealing. I cann
by medius 15y ago
I generally don't like the use of a metaphor as an argument since it often misses the point. Watching a movie without paying is not the same as stealing. I cannot give it to someone else what I have watched, I can't sell it, etc. But even if we accept that comparison, adding a second level of comparison by saying that a search engine is an accessory to stealing/robbery is just plain ridiculous.
For some reason, I don't really worry too much about all of these regulations. They will create speedbumps along the way, but the world will move on and come up with more innovative ways to get what they want. If they don't change with times, they will be uprooted eventually.
What Steve Jobs did was bring great technology and experience to masses faster than most other people. All of this would have been created/invented anyway, but it just would have taken a bit longer. All of these people only slow down the progress (which is still pretty bad), but they won't be able to stop it.
- dextorious 15y ago"""I generally don't like the use of a metaphor as an argument since it often misses the point. Watching a movie without paying is not the same as stealing. I cannot give it to someone else what I have watched, I can't sell it, etc.""" That same holds for stealing a pie and eating it. You cannot give it to someone else or sell it. You just decided on a specific, narrow, interpretation of "stealing".
- Fargren 15y agoYou are right in that example, but saying that downloading a file illegaly is stealing is still wrong. It is an broad and overreaching definition of "stealing". Stealing is the substraction of an object. If I steal something from you, you don't have it anymore. You lose it. If I pirate Avatar, you can still sell it to someone else. If steal your car, its gone unless you get it back from me.
- dextorious 15y agoI hear that argument a lot, but it's not consistent with how we actually use "stealing". I think it's just a feel-good argument to justify that "no harm was done" with downloading a file illegally. For example, we say that "he stole the answers to the exam" --in this case, too, the answers are still there, nobody lost them. Here's what dictionary.com gives for steal: 1. to take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, especially secretly or by force: A pickpocket stole his watch. 2. to appropriate (ideas, credit, words, etc.) without right or acknowledgment. 3. to take, get, or win insidiously, surreptitiously, subtly, or by chance: He stole my girlfriend.