Stealing Reasoning Traces from Proprietary LLM APIs

Re:Stealing Reasoning Traces from Proprietary LLM APIs by NitpickLawyer on Wednesday August 12, 2026 @12:00AM (#49267689)

Sure, but the current one is charged per token in & token out. Not per completion / task / hour / whatever. You can't charge per token and then say "you stole that token". Again, they can unilaterally decide not to sell you tokens anymore, at any time, for any (legal) reason. But as it stands right now, it can't be stealing.

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Re:Stealing Reasoning Traces from Proprietary LLM APIs by blackqueeriroh on Wednesday August 12, 2026 @01:12AM (#49268052)

Read the TOS. It can absolutely be stealing.

Are you a lawyer?

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Re:Stealing Reasoning Traces from Proprietary LLM APIs by NitpickLawyer on Wednesday August 12, 2026 @01:59AM (#49268356)

Breaking a platform's ToS is a civil contract violation, not a criminal offence. Stealing is. Potato, avocado.

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Re:Stealing Reasoning Traces from Proprietary LLM APIs by articulatepang on Wednesday August 12, 2026 @06:59PM (#49279735)

Again, I’m genuinely curious: can’t two parties sign a contract that says “you pay for all tokens required to produce the answer, but you only get the final answer tokens”?

My understanding of US law is that there’s nothing in logic or precedent that makes such a contract unenforceable.

As for whether it’s “stealing”: they might be able to press charges under federal Trade Secret Theft laws, I’m not sure. But I’m not seeing how you can be so very very certain that it’s at best a civil violation of contract. What’s the reason for your confidence that a judge would never find this to be trade secret theft or economic espionage?

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