I don't agree. Handing a copied vhs isn't illegal. Its illegal to sell it to him. Perhaps the license on HD-DVD's is more strictly worded but no one is going to be criminally charged with copying a hd-dvd and giving it to a friend.
"represents a failure to appreciate creation, innovation and the advancement of arts and technology." WHAT?! Failure to recognize copying as theft? Tell that to art thieves.
What would happen if copyright law disappeared tomorrow? Would creation, innovation and the advancement of arts or technology halt? Would it slow? Would it grow? I think the fine arts throughout history are much more amazing than the crap hollywood puts out. Did they need copyright law? Why should the right of the cooperate citizen outweigh the right of a fan who would rebroadcast a work at their own expense?
Furthermore "Stealing" is one of the worst possible words to use. Duplicating and distributing media is not stealing. The term Copyright Infringement and it's important not to conflate the two. In some cases, Copyright Infringement is a far more expensive than stealing, but they are not the same thing. Whenever something is stolen, there is -always- an identifiable victim, no matter how minor the victimization might be. There is always someone who has lost something. In the case of copying an HD-DVD, there is no such automatic loss.
Stealing someone's copyright is stealing. Plagiarism is stealing. Breaking an exclusive license agreement is not.