| Slimebeast said: Well, that depends on how you define theft/stealing. Words can have broad definitions. The key word here if we are gonna pick something from the moral realm of terminology would be theft/stealing in my opinion. Or you know of a better synonym? |
I'll stop arguing on morals because I think we are just going to have to agree to disagree (as someone with a major in philosophy, I left uni with many unresolved arguments 
).
The better synonym I would use is Copyright Infringement. If we look up a definition of piracy, we get "the unauthorized reproduction or use of a copyrighted book, recording, television program, patented invention, trademarked product, etc.". As I commented to Millennium, unauthorised reproduction is more than just "taking something that doesn't belong to you". Unauthorised backups and transcoding can also be piracy (I believe these are ok in the US, but they aren't here in Australia), yet I think most people would have a hard time arguing that making a copy for personal use, of something you have already paid to obtain, is still the same as stealling. Ignoring the definitions and looking in the moral realm, do you think that making a backup copy is as wrong as making a copy of something you don't own at all?
I agree that words can have broad definitions, but I don't think that the defintions of piracy and stealing overlap enough to make them synonymous.
