videoguy505 said:
Ever borrow a book? Ever lend a book? Ever xerox a page out of a book from the library? Ever borrow or lend a computer program disk to someone else? It's all stealing.
I disagree with the premise that it's OK to steal one thing if you may have stolen another. But there are substantial differences between torrents and these examples. First, borrowing and lending is not the same as copying and redistributing. Only one person can have the book at a time. There is utility to having a book that you have to pay for. The practice of creating an identical duplicate copy of a book is not common (although this may become a bigger issue with the risinng popularity of eBooks, Kindle, and the iPad). Second, when providing goods and services, the seller has the right to define the terms and conditions of the sale. Perhaps you've seen a DVD with a warning that this is licensed for authorized personal use? The terms and conditions for a book may also be spelled out. The seller has the prerogative to set conditions and the buyer can't just change their mind after purchasing it. So the people sharing the music are breaking that contract. Third, if a publisher chooses to make their media - book, CD, DVD, etc. - available over YouTube, in a library, etc., they should have the right to enter agreements with third parties to share their media for free, or for a price they agree to. If the library allows people to copy that media, and the publisher still chooses to share their information in this way, that's their call. The same thing goes if a publisher chooses to allow free downloads of their music. Fourth, I hope people here haven't pirated software as commonly as you suggest. You're right -- that is stealing, and it's worse than stealing music because there's no concert that these guys are performing where you can imagine they'll recoup their losses.