Selective contempt for stealing- implications

Author: Ashok.G.V.
Country: India

Piracy, the movie industry sheds tears because of it, the music industry tears its hair apart due to its existence and software companies have nervous break downs trying to combat it even as copyleft societies have a field day in celebrating their success over the damage caused to the monoply mongering capitalist douche bags who have no respect for dissemination of knowledge. Among the youth downloading movies off the net without a license is, the IP theft is “cool” and people who buy original softwares, games or movies are “sissies” “wuss” or “whimps”.

Obviously the moral angle to the issue saying stealing the product of someone's hardwork, skill and labour is ethically despicable is not entirely appealing in its meaning or intention. Perhaps the more practical implications need to be looked into here.
Practical implications

Whats shooting the prices?
Inflation and price rise, who hasn't been affected by it these days? Soaring fuel prices combined with the rise in the prices of essential commodites have sent economies worldwide in the path to recession and depression. What could be fuelling this phenomenon? Inflation is simple, when demand exceeds to an extent where the supply is not able to meet it. The income from piracy simply speaking is illegal income, so it can't be accounted for which implicitly means that one can neither save nor invest the money made out of piracy. 60 billion dollars per year is the worth of the fake drugs industry alone (although the demands of fake drugs is nearly not half as big as is the case with pirated movies/softwares/games or counterfeit products). Money waiting to be spent to purchase something creating more demand which the supply can't meet. Inflation and price rise is the natural consequence of such a situation. But it doesn't matter as long as it is all “cool” right?

Birds of the same type flock together
40 bombs in Gujrat,18 exploded and the rest 22 unexploded. 9 bomb blasts in the city of Bangalore. Bomb blasts in turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. Terrorists are having a field day bursting fire crackers worldwide. The question arises where is the money coming from? Previously it was opium trade, but the recapture of Afghanistan by the coalition forces have made the trade difficult than what it used to be. Plus countries like Malaysia carry the death sentence for drug trade rendering the prospect dangerous and not worth the risks. Piracy requires a internet connection, empty data storage mediums like DVD's or CD's and a corresponding writer/burner, things that are available easily and readily in the market.

The punishment for such an offence, if caught of course, can maximum involve a couple of days behind bars and some damages rendering the prospect very cost effective, relatively less risky and an obvious choice to generate funds. Terrorist groups based out of Pakistan have already managed to do it, what will stop the others from following suit? Maybe a sudden drop in demand for pirated movies, but that isn't happening especially considering its “cool”.

It is not rare or shocking to hear from an Intellectual Property Enforcement specialist about how a gun was pointed at him during a raid on a unit manufacturing counterfeit products. In the words of the joker from the “The Dark Knight”, one would be tempted to ask the unit owners, “Why so Serious?”. Its simply because counterfeiting products coupled with the software piracy/music piracy represents a major source of funding for the mafia and the mafia doesn't like it when somebody tries to prevent them from making money which they use for purposes ranging from investing in the human trafficking industry to pornography. Who knew fake Nike shoes were so dangerous?

Sense of right and wrong- does it even exist?
Think about it, somebody comes to the house you own tomorrow and tells you that they have been sold the house by somebody else? Would you be happy with it? I don't think so.

Intellectual Property is a property as is your house. When you buy something from somebody, it does not belong to, knowing fully well it does not belong to the person selling it, its not an offence per se (although stupidity would be a better word to describe the act itself), but indirectly you are encouraging the person to commit the offense of stealing someone's property over and over again. As long as a crime is profitable, criminals will exist.

The Land mafia invokes disgust, common thieves invoke contempt because they steal something that does not belong to them and yet when a theft of something that is intangible is made, its all okay.

A great philosopher on the theory of rights once said that the work of an author is an integral part of the author himself and neither can exist without the other. This forms one of the principle basis of Intellectual Property laws. Its object is to attach value and importance to the products of human intellect, not tangible but definitely there to add some kind of value to society. Practically or morally, stealing is wrong whether the subject matter of the theft is jewellery or an intangible. Maybe its time we stopped being hippocrats condemning the theft that occurred in the neighbour's house while buying articles which represent thefts of intellectual property themselves.