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	Texrat	2009-12-01 , 16:25
	Posts: 11,700 \| Thanked: 10,045 times \| Joined on Jun 2006 @ North Texas, USA	#91

Originally Posted by dmj726

The term property implies excludability. Property may apply to the containers, which are naturally scarce. However the *information* on those containers isn't. This is why, regardless of one's opinion on filesharing, comparing it to theft is somewhat silly. In order to steal something, you have to deprive someone of that thing. If you steal a bike, that person no longer has the bike. If you make a copy of a file, you have two people with the file. The reason why this is illegal has nothing to do with theft, but with the fact that the government has granted a monopoly on the right to reproduce that data.

I'm not going to split the hair further over IP semantics, but the weak rationalizing above starts a slippery slope. That's a dangerously disingenuous argument that, sorry, I just can't take seriously. For a minute there I thought you actually understood the subject...

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dmj726	2009-12-01 , 16:57
Posts: 148 \| Thanked: 92 times \| Joined on Oct 2009	#92

I think where you're getting caught up is the idea that something is property because it can be used to get income. I never made any statements about this aspect. The reason it often gets confused with theft, is that the person who received the shared file has a copy but hasn't paid the copyright holder. This is the domain of copyright infringement.
In my personal opinion, I think that copyright holders get a little too worked up about it. There's lots of evidence showing that filesharing can actually be used to increase sales of the scarce goods, and not a lot (studies with dubious-at-best methodologies aside) supporting the case that it is hurting the growing media industries. In the case of making a copy, the copyright holder may not gain anything or only gain indirectly, but they also haven't lost anything either.