Confession...

[theakrab]

No that is not the same because you're distributing it free of charge to people who could have bought it. Which is, as someone else said, lost financial potential. There is no lost potential in my download because I had no more money to give.

You just summed up theft. You are taking something that requires you pay for it. But you're not paying for it.

[iTIMMEH]

You just summed up theft. You are taking something that requires you pay for it. But you're not paying for it.

That may be your perception of theft, but it is not the definition of theft, legal or otherwise.

[theakrab]

Main Entry: theft
Function: noun
Etymology: Old English thiefth
: LARCENY; broadly : a criminal taking of the property or services of another without consent

Nope, no, I'm pretty sure I nailed it.

[suibriel]

I also have a confession to make.

Although I bought the game many months ago, I downloaded it from torrents because I couldn't wait the extra day for the retail version. I'm sorry

[iTIMMEH]

Main Entry: theft
Function: noun
Etymology: Old English thiefth
: LARCENY; broadly : a criminal taking of the property or services of another without consent

Nope, no, I'm pretty sure I nailed it.

Cool story. You keep on sticking your fingers in your ears and repeating your opinion ad nauseum, I'll keep on believing it isn't theft based on precedent set by US and UK law and the fact that downloaders aren't charged with theft. Have a nice day.

[theakrab]

Yeah, they're just taking down sites for shits and giggles. ^^

[iTIMMEH]

Yeah, they're just taking down sites for shits and giggles. ^^

Nobody said it isn't illegal; only that under law, theft isn't applicable. Copyright infringement is.

Anyway, this isn't what the thread was about and discussion of downloading always turns into freeloaders on one side shouting that all information should be free and people on the other shouting that downloading is the same as stealing from the pockets of content producers, when neither is true. Perhaps if people were able to discuss it objectively, progress would be made in countering it.

[Zanderat]

Theft is theft.

Yep. And this is not theft. You can make up laws as much as you like but don't think they are in effect.

If you discuss anything anywhere then you should at least get your facts right.

In criminal law, theft is the illegal taking of another person's property without that person's freely-given consent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft

You don't take it, you copy it. So it simply can't be theft no matter how often you repeat it.

Little question:
If you end up in a court, which is very unlikely, you will be charged with:
a, Theft
b, Copyright infringement

And guess what will earn you the harder punishment.

You are arguing semantics. If everyone "only" copies games without paying for them, how does a game publisher make money? It doesn't matter if it is a small company like Frictional or a huge one like EA. If no one pays for anything, they go out. Period. But in you eyes that is ok, because it is only copying.

Rationalize anyway you want. You obviously have pirated games before (and most most likely movies and music) and think that it is ok. If Frictional and other small devs go out, you will have no one to blame but yourself.

[darkpast]

Yeah, they're just taking down sites for shits and giggles. ^^

They're taking them down because of copyright violation, which is a different crime from theft, but a crime nonetheless.

Here's the explanation from wikipedia:

Copyright owners frequently refer to copyright infringement as "theft". In law copyright infringement does not refer to actual theft, but an instance where a person exercises one of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner without authorisation. Courts have distinguished between copyright infringement and theft, holding, for instance, in the United States Supreme Court case Dowling v. United States (1985) that bootleg phonorecords did not constitute stolen property and that "...interference with copyright does not easily equate with theft, conversion, or fraud. The Copyright Act even employs a separate term of art to define one who misappropriates a copyright... 'an infringer of the copyright.'" In the case of copyright infringement the province guaranteed to the copyright owner by copyright law is invaded, i.e. exclusive rights, but no control, physical or otherwise, is taken over the copyright, nor is the copyright owner wholly deprive of using the copyrighted work or exercising the exclusive rights owned

[Zanderat]

Their work hasn't been 'taken', it has been duplicated. That isn't theft.....

Get bent. You pirates are unbelievable with your excuses.

---

I also have a confession to make.

Although I bought the game many months ago, I downloaded it from torrents because I couldn't wait the extra day for the retail version. I'm sorry

Did you REALLY buy it? Wow.