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Originally posted by KnifeMissle
[B] No one is disputing that copyright infringement (which, legally, is not theft, that's a different offense) isn't illegal, because it is, plain and simple.
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I have heard many people (not in this thread) make that exact claim, usually following up by saying they wouldn't download music if it was less expensive or if the record companies weren't such bastards.
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Anyway, you can tell copyright infringment is not a crime 'cause no one is going to jail. Instead, they are being sued. You don't sue someone who is stealing, you prosecute them and they go to jail because it is a crime. You don't prosecute copyright infringers (pirates are something different) because what they're doing is not a crime. It is illegal, so you can sue them and they can be forced to pay a settlement (money).
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Agreed on your technical point. However, I would still call it stealing. You are taking someone else's artistic work, which they gave a single company the exclusive right to distribution, and you are bypassing the intent of the artist and their distribution company.
P2P is not the same as making a buddy a mix tape. It's more akin to professional DVD piracy. You are distributing complete copies of copyrighted works to potentially hundreds of anonymous strangers, not distributing mix tapes to friends or personal backups to a videotape.