That's just not true. If you asked a random person "what do you call the act of taking something without paying for it", they'd answer "theft". The fact that there is a distinction, because in one case you're "physically" taking something and in another you're not, is a much more nuanced argument.
Most people will use the term theft because that's the term which fits the best in our language. You might not like that, you might want to change that in order to help people understand the difference. But that doesn't mean that anyone who uses the word "theft" is someone to ignore.
By saying "taking" you've already given them the wrong question.
If you ask a random person "what do you call the act of imitating something without paying for it", they'd answer "huh?", or "art".
This just reinforces my point - choosing to ignore people only because they use the word "stealing" is not a good idea.
Now we've corrected your choice of words from 'took' to 'copied', can you please make your argument again but this time using the correct word?
I just wished to point out that you were deluding yourself with semantics.
I'm not for or against piracy.
On a personal level, I am for being able to pirate other people's work, but against my own work being pirated. That's not hypocritical: I value increasing my capital.
But on a non-personal level, my belief is that a file is the medium of ideas and that when this is copied it (a) strengthens the ideas by increasing their cheap supply in a culture, and that (b) due to the increased supply the demand at high price points has the potential to shift down, while the demand at low price points has the potential to shift up because of increased cultural interest.
Please elaborate. Where does my statement conflict with reality?
> It's the real thing
It's already a copy of a copy of an edit of an edit of a copy a magnetic tape in someone's camera.
> and I took it.
You copied it. If you insist on calling it "take" or "steal" you must accept that you took or stole games from steam after purchasing then.
> but if you think the pirate bay is about 'imitation'
I didn't even mention Pirate Bay.
> When I download my series of the pirate bay
You don't. You download them directly off hundreds of other people across the world. TPB just gives you the list of people.
When you go to a restaurant, do you say that you sit at the waiter and eat forks?
Clean semantics, and not confusing the medium with the object, are crucial for discussion.
It's far more than just being semantically "inaccurate". Anyone who equates piracy with theft is being deliberately and fundamentally dishonest, and is only interested in waving their propaganda about instead of having an open debate.