Only consequences, physically speaking the two are not the same at all.

Copying of anything digital is not actual theft, nor will it ever be.

ryandrake 6 days ago | parent | next [-]

"You wouldn't download a car!"

Wait, I absolutely would download a car if I could... or food... or clothing... I'd download the shit out of physical goods if the technology existed. Who wouldn't? You could solve scarcity. If we had Star Trek Replicators, we'd be living in a literal utopia.

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jiggawatts 6 days ago | parent | next [-]

Thanks to 3D printing this is starting to become reality and not just science fiction.

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cammikebrown 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

The “download” catchphrase is a joke, it was originally “You wouldn’t steal a car”, which I’d argue is true for most people.

	▲	PenguinCoder 5 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Stealing a car deprives the owner of their product. Privacy does not. They still have access and ownership of it. But now, you do too.
	▲	theshackleford 5 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		> it was originally “You wouldn’t steal a car”, which I’d argue is true for most people. Sure, but it's only true if you stretch the definition of what's occuring. If we stretched it in the other way, in that "stealing" a car in fact left the perfectly fine original right where you found it, the vast majority wouldnt think twice.

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withinboredom 6 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

So long as you’ve paid for it before… maybe not. In many jurisdictions you are entitled to a backup. The fact that you have to pirate it… might be a gray area.

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nh23423fefe 6 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

no true scotsman

wordsmithing on theft is the only defense thieves have

	▲	gooosle 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		How dare you steal these hn comments by copying them over to your PC using your browser? Thief!

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robertoandred 6 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Do you sneak into concerts or hop turnstiles too?

	▲	viraptor 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		Those actually take the resources away (space at the venue for example). In piracy that's not the case.

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probotect0r 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Of course it's theft. The owner of that content didn't intend to give it to you for free, they expected to get paid for their work.

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const_cast 6 days ago | parent [-]

I could copy A New Hope once for every atom in the universe, and no money is lost and the original continues to exist.

Theft is moving stuff. You can't move software or digital assets, you can only copy them.

If I committed a burglary and instead of taking your TV I go to Walmart and buy a copy, then that's not burglary. You certainly wouldn't report me to the police.

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tzs 5 days ago | parent [-]

Then how come a month ago you were talking about preventing zero-days from stealing files: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44578850 ?

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const_cast 5 days ago | parent [-]

This is the worst no you I've ever seen.

I'm not concerned about my files being leaked because that's stealing. I'm concerned because they hold sensitive information that can be used for actual stealing, like for example with money.

Malware isn't bad because it's stealing. That's stupid. I know you know it's stupid, so I don't know why you said it.

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tzs 4 days ago | parent [-]

The point is that earlier you described a zero-day copying files as stealing the files, but now you say that copying data cannot be theft.

	▲	4 days ago \| parent [-]
		[deleted]