You don’t photocopy every page of the book so you can read it again and again after you return it, though.
If he walked into a store, grabbed a few CDs, and ran like hell then the store is missing property. That is theft.
If he copies a library CD then returns the CD, the library got exactly what they lent out. No property went missing. That is not theft. It violates IP, but it isn’t theft.
Oddly enough, if he flat out stole a couple CDs, the maximum penalty if he was caught would be 1 year in jail and a fine of $2500. The jail term is extremely unlikely unless he has a prior record. If he got caught violating IP by copying CDs, the maximum penalty would be $150,000 per song. Since the typical CD has around 10 songs on it, that’s a million and a half dollars per CD. So my answer is that I’d tell the guy he should just flat out steal CDs from the library. Sure, that would actually hurt the library, but the law has decided that is about $1,497,500 less harmful than violating IP. Who am I to argue?
I don’t think the whole shebang is fair, or that the record companies don’t try and rip off consumers, but not liking the way an industry conducts it’s business does not give anyone the right to steal from it. Two wrongs, as they say, don’t make a right. What I object to is people attempting to justify the theft, illegal copying, loss of IP, whatever - just accept that what you’re doing is wrong and that you don’t care. It’s okay. Just say it. We won’t judge. I can’t judge, or I’d be a hypocrite.
But don’t try and hide behind some silly notion that you’re sticking it to the man and yeah them evil record companies, yeah man! Down with everything!
That isn’t directed at anyone in this thread - just an attitude I come across a lot.
And that’s where it breaks down. You assume that somebody who would be willing to take from the library would be willing to buy the music outright. This is untrue.
As for me, I think the fact that this is music, and most people don’t continually listen to music, that makes this acceptable. Each time the guy plays the music, he could have went to the library, checked out the CD, and then listened to it. Occasionally he might run into a time where he is listening to it when someone else also is, but that can be made up when nobody is listening to it.
That said, I hate the idea of people who want to bend the system to get something for nothing when they have enough money to do otherwise. Heck, even what I do is stuff I plan on making up for.
It’s theft and I couldn’t care less. None of my business what the dude does. If he was my friend it would be different though.
I’d ask for a copy.
I agree completely.
I’d just add one key (at least, IMHO) fact: it’s a crime mainly because people with a lot of money have decided to define it as a crime. To the extent that things are crimes not due to any societal consensus about what should and shouldn’t be legal, but are crimes because well-heeled parties representing only a small slice of the body politic have managed to persuade legislatures to define things as crimes in order to protect their interests, it’s hard for me to regard such laws as fully legitimate.