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Originally Posted by SoftwareBug2.0
I understand that the unauthorized reproductions of the program violate copyright law.
However, I am not sure that thievery is a correct characterization.
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I do not condone their actions. However, I do not believe that thievery or stealing is a correct characterization of their deeds.
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It could be a tragic mistake if you think that you can get away with copyright infrongement without being charged with theft. Because Federal law certainly does consider them to be similar.
Specifically, the US Code, Title 17, Chapter 5, Section 506, subsection a: "Criminal Infringement. - Any person who infringes a copyright willfully [...] for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain [...] shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18, United States Code." [which has to do with criminal theft]
And your first response will be "but I didn't download it for financial gain, so I am OK!" Not so fast. The No Electroinic Theft (NET) Act, passed into law by the U.S. Congress in 1997, was specifically targeted at actions like this.
US Code, Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 101: "The term ''financial gain'' includes receipt, or expectation of receipt, of anything of value, including the receipt of other copyrighted works."
The NET Act directly links copyright infringement to physical-space theft, specifically shoplifting. The boundaries of criminal copyright infringement were signficantly expanded by the NET Act, and the penalties associated with it (in extreme cases up to $3,000,000 in fines and a year in Federal prison). Note that the NET Act also defines a link between the illegal distribution of copyrighted materials and the act of trafficking in counterfeit goods and services. In other words, piracy. Again, my intent is not to be a real killjoy about this. But we need to make sure that we are not fooling ourselves by thinking that copyright infrongement is OK and is an acceptable action. Copyright infringement is a criminal act. It is illegal. Federal law considers it theft. It is not right.
But just as important, part of our purpose here is to set an example of professional behavior. Professionals understand and honor the value of intellectual property and the the work of others, and respect that work by not stealing it. Do I think that PBS is going to try to put someone in jail for a year just because you watch one issue of NewsHour in a less than honest fashion? Probably not. But you do have to be honest with yourself about what it means when you do something like this, and whether you are behaving in an honorable manner that is representative of the values and ethics you stand for.
-dave