6 ms·

According to current copyright law it is not theft. It is "infringement", a separate legal term. It is also generally not a criminal offense but a civil offense

• lostcolony 5y ago
  You wouldn't download a car, would you? I kid; point is, while all the technicalities being thrown around are lovely, the fact you -can't- literally steal code probably does mean that those using the term 'steal' do in fact mean IP infringement.
  • muglug 5y ago
    I think there are times where "steal" is appropriate — where the code is in some sort of silo, and someone exfiltrates it. Anthony Levandowski was charged with theft of trade secrets for making a copy of Waymo's code.
    • lostcolony 5y ago
      Yes, but that was removing someone's ability to control access to something. That is, they -have- taken something from someone else; control of an idea. That's irrespective of code (and, in fact, I don't think I recall seeing code listed as something Levandowski took, but rather schematics and blueprints and the like). I.e., Levandowski was not sued for 'stealing' code (by copying it onto a thumb drive); after all, Waymo still had the code. He was sued for stealing the ability to control access from Waymo. But that furthers my point - this semantic game obscures the core point, which I think everyone agrees on.
• type0 5y ago
  In some jurisdictions it definitely is a criminal offense and is compared to theft in the law itself thanks to unregulated lobbying of media conglomerates. edit: I'm not saying it's good that it has become equivated to theft, we have anti-pirate legislation to thank for this. I would call pirating infringement, but license violation is much more akin to theft than anything.