[LINK] In other news....

Rick Welykochy rick at praxis.com.au
Mon Jun 25 13:32:28 AEST 2007


Robin Stephens wrote:

> On 23/06/07, grove at zeta.org.au <grove at zeta.org.au> wrote:
>> http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/06/23/1959801.htm
> 
> In the article: "US District Attorney Chuck Rosenburg has hailed the
> conviction, saying that whether committed with a gun or a keyboard,
> theft is theft."
> 
> I think anyone who has had a gun pointed at their face would disagree.

Rosenburg is off the mark. If what he says was technically correct,
there would not be two separate areas of law, one for larceny
(theft of physical property) and one for copyright (theft of
virtual property).

Philosophically speaking, it is one thing to relieve another
person of their chattel at gunpoint. It is quite another to copy virtual
property without actually depriving anyone of anything using a keyboard.

Would Rosenburg feel the same under either circumstance? I strongly doubt
it. Continuing Robin's thought, in the case of being held up
at gun point, post-traumatic stress and attendant psychological damage
is a real and commonplace outcome. The same cannot be said for virtual
theft.


cheers
rickw



-- 
_________________________________
Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services

Any belief that can't stand up to objective scrutiny is hardly worth having.
      -- LJ McIntyre



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