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If a store’s prices are too high, do you feel entitled to shoplift because it sends them a message? The world operates on contracts, and we are all free to dec
by brookst 3y ago
If a store’s prices are too high, do you feel entitled to shoplift because it sends them a message?
The world operates on contracts, and we are all free to decline to do business with companies we dislike or who ask more than we think their product is worth.
Agree to terms or don’t, but I have a hard time seeing “I’m going to take what they’re offering but not pay what they’re asking” as some kind of noble stand.
- BobbyJo 3y ago> If a store’s prices are too high, do you feel entitled to shoplift because it sends them a message? That's not a great comparison. The problem in this instance isn't a high price, it's a lack of access. If they offered ebooks drm free with a X% unlock fee or something then you'd have a point.
- brookst 3y agoWhy? I was told that using the product without paying for it was a righteous form of protest against outrageous terms. How would that not apply to shoplifting because the price is too high or the return policy too short or whatever?
- boring_twenties 3y agoShoplifting removes an item from the store's posession and is theft. Copying an ebook doesn't remove any copies the publisher has, which is why it's not theft.
- nec4b 3y agoAre you ok with me taking nude pictures of your family and than maybe also make them available for everyone else? It wouldn't be a theft, because you would still have originals.
- BobbyJo 3y agoThe point isn't "it's ok", the point is "it's different", so drawing a line between the two is pointless. The nuances of copyright and IP in general don't apply to a bottle of Sprite on the shelf of a 7Eleven. It's fine if you think what they are doing is wrong. The government shares your opinion. Additionally, this argument here is even worse, because the laws you'd be violating in this instance have nothing to do with IP or theft, but rather privacy.
- beej71 3y agoIt's not theft, but I doubt people would be ok with that for other reasons. Depending on the laws there might be criminal charges for doing so, or a civil suit. But you wouldn't be charged with theft.
- BobbyJo 3y ago> Why? I was told that using the product without paying for it was a righteous form of protest against outrageous terms. That has nothing to do with it being a good or bad analogy. > How would that not apply to shoplifting because the price is too high or the return policy too short or whatever? What is "that" in this statement? I'm not saying the word "theft" isn't valid, I'm saying the circumstances are different enough that equating the two is a poor basis to reason from.
- appplication 3y ago> If a store’s prices are too high, do you feel entitled to shoplift because it sends them a message? Digital assets cannot be compared to physical goods. A physical good that is shoplifted not only misses out on the sale, but must be restocked at the shop’s expense in order to capture the next sale. Digital piracy does not create any additional burden to a business’s expenses. This will never be a valid line of logic.
- xtracto 3y agoThis happened in Mexico a lot before ebooks/internet: If a book was excessively expensive for people, they wouldn't steal it. They'd get it from the library, Xerox it and bind the photocopies . Copying a pdf is just the digital equivalent.
- TheCoelacanth 3y agoNo, but if a store is making an attack on fundamental human rights (which is what DRM is), then I would.
- zen928 3y agoActually I didn't take anything, I pirated it. Pirating isn't stealing an existing resource, might want to learn what these basic terms mean.