• TWeaK@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Why stealing is different?

    Because you can’t usually take something by accident. If you did, and you could reasonably demonstrate that it wasn’t intentional (rather than just saying “oh I didn’t know it was in my pocket”), then you might not be convicted of theft.

    As for “trying” to label copyright infringement as a crime, I did not do that, I just stated that it is unlawful.

    You’re right, you didn’t say that. I apologise, I lost track of who I was replying to in this long thread (I wish Lemmy would give you a ?context=3000 thing like reddit did).

    Copyright infringement is indeed illegal, in any form. It is a civil offense at the base level, meaning the rightsholder has to prosecute it themselves, however it can escalate to a criminal offense if certain conditions are met. This never used to be the case, back when all the Napster trials happened it was only ever a civil offense, however over the last decade or so media companies have been successful in lobbying the government and changing the law. I just hope they don’t manage to change it further - rights like the right to record live TV on video were hard won and shouldn’t be undermined.