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Originally Posted by Favu  Arguably, file sharing is different to stealing. |
Arguably, no it isn't. It's still theft. If I would normally be paid for that work, then you have, in effect, reached into my pocket and taken money from me.
Now, you may say "Well, I wouldn't have bought it, so you didn't lose anything". But how do we KNOW that? While the statistics would seem to suggest there is SOME validity to that statement, the fact is that we are working with circumstantial evidence. At best that is suspect, and needs a substantial amount of observation and/or supporting evidence.
One thing YOU need to understand is that, even with the BBC and your television license, content creators are typically paid some paltry fee for the original creation, and then paid royalties every time their material is broadcast. How is the BBC going to know when they owe the content creator royalties if they don't know when the content is being watched, played, or whatever?
Obviously, culturally, we need to come to a compromise on what is acceptable and what isn't. The position of the media conglomerates that "We own everything and you'll take what we feel like giving you, on our terms" is unacceptable, but so is the countervailing notion that "I can take whatever I want, whenever I want, so deal with it!" of a small but vocal portion of the file sharing community.