djstp said:
so its ok to steal music? but not ok to steal programs?
If owning music and lending your CD to a friend to listen to is "stealing music", then you've got a point.
John Clay said:
Except that downloading music is NOT stealing, but rather copyright infringement.
Except downloading music is NOT copyright infringement.
If you send your friend (or enemy) music that you
own, and your friend listens to it, you have shared legally purchased and copyright protected music, just as you might lend a friend an album, or let them listen to your MP3 player, or "squirt" :lmao: a song to someone.
When we start accepting that we cannot share our legally purchased possessions due to copyright, we start/already have started on a slippery slope.
Would you accept going to the video rental store, and paying a fee based on the number of people who will be present in the room where the video will be played?
When you purchase a video from the iTunes Store, do you intend to watch the video alone, or pay for the video as many times as there are people in the room watching it with you?
You own it, you can show it to as many people as you like,
unless you are receiving compensation. Profiting from someone else's copyright is where infringement takes place.
Macmac on the other hand, has given me no indication that he merely intends to look at or even try out the software before legally paying for it.
In his first post, Macmac indicated that he wanted a serial number without paying for the software. That, my friends, is theft.
(And theft is theft whether stolen software is deemed to be worth the money or not, so the arguments posted here about the value of iWork are, I believe, irrelevant.)
I'm glad Macmac posted this question as I feel the debate over theft and copyright should be kept fresh. I hope someone will disagree with what I've posted here. This debate is healthy and I think this is a very important issue.