this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2023
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That's.. a good argument. I never thought of it like that.
Is it stealing if you don't pay for the cinema? You don't own anything new after.
Is it stealing if you don't pay for your haircut? You don't own anything new after.
Is it stealing if you don't pay for your car service? You don't own anything new after.
In those three cases, you're receiving a service (showing you the movie, cutting your hair and servicing your car), so yeah, you're stealing their work, which is arguably much worse than stealing objects.
In contrast, copying a copy of a movie or a game or whatever without removing the original or even a copy of it is not stealing.
And before you chime in with "but future income!", those profits are hypothetical, so even in the most uncharitable rational definition, you have stolen something that someone MIGHT have gotten.
Copying is not theft and you can't steal something that doesn't and might never exist.
So the entertainment you receive watching the movie isn't also a service?
No. The work that went into making the movie has already been paid for. The vast majority if not all of the profits from selling and renting the movie goes to the billionaire movie studios.
At the cinema, there's a projectionist showing you the movie and maintenance crew making sure you can do so in a pleasant environment, people working the concession stand etc.
Those are services. Owning the "rights" to something that someone else made isn't.
Who paid for it and have you paid them for the access what they now own?