...so the IP Commision wants to infect everyone's computers with malware...

[Vegosiux]

It devalues your IP. In other words, imagine your IP is a big green grass lawn. Pirates are the equivalent of taking a dump on that lawn.

And that somehow resulted in my lawn being "stolen"...how? Last time I checked, even if someone shits all over my lawn, I still own the (now shat-upon) lawn. It's still mine, and nobody else's. I haven't lost ownership of it.

Of course I'm still going to get all legal on their ass for shitting on my lawn, but if I want to sue them for stealing my lawn, I'll be laughed out of court.

 

[Vegosiux]

The problem with "intellectual property" is that it's a post-scarcity thing. It exists in virtually unlimited supply. Interestingly enough, it shows perfectly why supply-side economics are doomed to crash and burn if left to the glorious invisible hand of the market.

Also, why make an analogy that you'll shoot down the moment someone comments on it?

 

[Atmos Duality]

Intellectual PROPERTY. Theft of intellectual PROPERTY. There's a reason Intellectual Property is included in the Constitution, from the very beginning. The Copyright Clause. Very important, sir.

And yet another person fails to realize that calling Copyright "Property" doesn't magic all physical and legal laws of 'property' onto it.

I'm very tired of spending pages logically debunking anecdotal nonsense, so instead I offer you some reading.

It illustrates the problems with equating the two violations; has a pretty decent set of references and is framed in language that's easier to translate than legalese.

I will add that it seems most people who blindly push this misconception do so for the sake of propaganda: as if by shaming people into compliance will magically justify the misconception. I say this given given how common those infamous "Would you Download a Car" clips were and how they were being pushed by people in an industry who really should have known better.

So please: DON'T BE THAT GUY
Copyright Infringement is a crime already; just call it what it is, not what you THINK it should be.

And if you really are a content creator who relies on Copyright Law to help secure a living, then at the very least you will study it if you have any sense of professionalism because it is made FOR YOU.

http://gigaom.com/2012/03/30/why-its-wrong-to-call-copyright-infringement-theft/

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/29/opinion/theft-law-in-the-21st-century.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0