Re: "My dad is a pirate."

[On the Road to Damascus]

On Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:57:28 -0800 (PST), Johnny Rocket
<sinister.midget@yahoo.com> wrote:

>> Copying a file is not theft because the so called "victim" is not deprived
>> of the original.
>
Poor choice of metaphors.
>
>Idiot. So "identity theft" isn't a crime because no physical property
>was stolen and the "victim" still gets to keep their name?

At any given moment quite a few people are in possession of all our
personal information, yet until it's used to commit an actual crime,
fraud, the imaginary crime "identity theft" hasn't occurred.

>
>Or "stealing" the recipe for Coca-Cola isn't a crime because Coke
>still has the original formula so there's no damage their either?

Coca-Cola refused ever to patent their recipe, since it would then be
available for public scrutiny...and the patent would have long ago
expired. Anyone is free to reverse engineer it, PERFECTLY, and no
crime has taken place.
>
>Or "stealing" military secrets isn't a crime because no physical
>property was stolen and the USA still gets to keep their nukes?

Only the USA has military secrets???