"Piracy" sounds too sexy, say rightsholders

Re:"Piracy" sounds too sexy, say rightsholders by jcl on Thursday March 18, 2010 @01:18PM (#1201855)

People wouldn't associate pirates with Johnny Depp if they hadn't made a movie showing how cool pirates are, starring Johnny Depp. Hollywood likes to make movies glamorizing criminals -- public enemies, goodfellas, princes of thieves: crime is cool, except when it's happening to us.

Perhaps we should call it "stealing" instead? No problem, as long as people don't associate it with Russell Crowe in Robin Hood (coming to a theater near you; check your local listings).

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Re:"Piracy" sounds too sexy, say rightsholders by mrcharles on Thursday March 18, 2010 @01:20PM (#1201862)

Stealing is simply an inappropriate term any way you look at it. Stealing involves a transfer of an item from one party to another. It's not stealing if the original person still has it.

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Re:"Piracy" sounds too sexy, say rightsholders by jcl on Thursday March 18, 2010 @01:31PM (#1201903)

Yes, but this is precisely the kind of term they will choose, regardless of appropriateness; "piracy" was not exactly a textbook definition of copyright infringement, either. I am pointing out that "stealing" is not an improvement over "piracy", as far as the perceived coolness of the crime.

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