Theft is a very forced metaphor for software piracy

[gergroy]

Onyxmeth said:

gergroy said:
@ Onyx
Well, here is something like I was talking about. This guy was arrest for not paying his rental service fees. Notice he is arrested for third degree theft of services.
http://blog.nj.com/reporter/2008/01/man_arrested_for_theft_of_serv.html
Here is the wiki definition of theft of services
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_of_services
This guy was arrested for punching his cab driver and not paying the cab fare
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2041123/patrick_kane_arrested_for_robbery_and.html?cat=14
This guy was arrested for stealing electricity
http://tdworld.com/overhead_distribution/peco-theft-arrest-0309/

anyway, you get my point. Stealing a service is still theft.

Go to your wiki link for theft of services and click on the word larceny, which is what these crimes are typically prosecuted as (says the Wiki page). In the larceny link, go to the Personal Property section. It reads "This limitation means that acts of common law larceny cannot be committed against the following:" and it then goes on to name "intellectual property".

 

yes, and at the bottom of the list there is this

Note: All states have enacted statutes to expand the coverage of larceny to include the items mentioned above.

also, theft of services can be charged under misdeamener and felony charges.  Which would cover those as well.  

edit:  the fact the states expanded larceny to cover that just means they understanding that terms need to be upgraded to fit with current day crimes.  Like I said before, we can't be beholden to archaic definitions of terms.