{"id":38175,"date":"2012-05-22T14:06:38","date_gmt":"2012-05-22T12:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=38175"},"modified":"2012-05-23T13:09:49","modified_gmt":"2012-05-23T11:09:49","slug":"is-online-piracy-really-theft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/38175-is-online-piracy-really-theft","title":{"rendered":"Is online piracy really &#8220;theft&#8221;?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The debate on whether online piracy is theft took an interesting turn recently after <a title=\"Chris Dodd\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/vb\/showthread.php\/433475-Chris-Dodd\">Chris Dodd<\/a>, the Chairman and CEO of the <a title=\"MPAA - Motion Picture Association of America\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/vb\/showthread.php\/433491-MPAA-Motion-Picture-Association-of-America\">Motion Picture Association (MPAA)<\/a>, said that the industry is \u201con the wrong track if we describe this [online piracy] as thievery\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Dodd alluded to the <a title=\"Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/vb\/showthread.php\/395503-SOPA-Stop-Online-Piracy-Act\">Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)<\/a> in the US during an interview, saying that <a title=\"Facebook\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/vb\/showthread.php\/348566-Facebook\">Facebook<\/a> and <a title=\"Twitter\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/vb\/showthread.php\/359584-Twitter\">Twitter<\/a> campaigned effectively against the legislation on grounds that the new laws would impede the free flow of information on the Internet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re in a transformative [sic] period with an explosion of technology that\u2019s going to need content,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have to be more subtle and consumer-oriented. We\u2019re on the wrong track if we describe this as thievery,\u201d Dodd said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Piracy is not theft in South Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This debate in the US coincides with recent campaigns in South Africa which also describe piracy as theft.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jxtoaTF9hu8\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Copyright expert and senior legal manager at <a title=\"PricewaterhouseCoopers PwC\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/vb\/showthread.php\/379745-PricewaterhouseCoopers\">PWC<\/a>, <a title=\"Tobias Sch\u00f6nwetter\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/vb\/showthread.php\/237639-Tobias-Sch\u00f6nwetter\">Dr. Tobias Schonwetter<\/a>, said that online piracy is not theft.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTheft is defined in South Africa \u2018as the unlawful and intentional appropriation of movable, corporeal property which belongs to or is in possession of another with the intention to permanently deprive the person entitled to the possession of the property of such property\u2019,\u201d explained Schonwetter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen copying copyright protected materials that belong to somebody else, the person owning the material is not deprived of ownership,\u201d said Schonwetter.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Lance Michalson\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/vb\/showthread.php\/251836-Lance-Michalson\">Lance Michalson<\/a> from <a title=\"Michalson's Attorneys\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/vb\/showthread.php\/377906-Michalsons\">Michalson&#8217;s Attorneys<\/a> agrees, saying that piracy does not fall under the definition of theft. \u201cIt is the infringement of intellectual property rights,\u201d said Michalson.<\/p>\n<p>Schonwetter did however point out that an argument can be made that while the owner is not deprived of ownership, he or she is deprived of the benefits of ownership; i.e. the financial exploitation of the material. \u201cThis is why the result is very similar to theft,\u201d said Schonwetter.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_50573\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?attachment_id=50573\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-50573\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-50573\" class=\"size-full wp-image-50573\" title=\"Piracy and theft\" src=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Piracy-and-theft.jpg\" alt=\"Piracy and theft\" width=\"600\" height=\"429\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-50573\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Piracy and theft<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Be sure to weigh in with your opinion in the comments below and on the MyGaming forum.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related articles<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"DStv cracked and pirated by techies; numerous arrests\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/34606-dstv-cracked-and-pirated-by-techies-numerous-arrests.html\"><strong>DStv cracked and pirated by techies; numerous arrests<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"ISPs to stop you from pirating?\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/internet\/45892-isps-to-stop-you-from-pirating.html\"><strong>ISPs to stop you from pirating?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Why do you pirate?\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/internet\/42913-why-do-you-pirate.html\"><strong>Why do you pirate?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Microsoft and software piracy in South Africa\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/software\/42869-microsoft-and-software-piracy-in-south-africa.html\"><strong>Microsoft and software piracy in South Africa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You wouldn&#8217;t steal a car!  You wouldn&#8217;t steal a movie!  Piracy is stealing! Piracy is a crime! (But is it really?)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":153,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[21,101,4435,4436],"class_list":["post-38175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","tag-headline","tag-piracy","tag-pwc","tag-tobias-schonwetter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/153"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38175"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38204,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38175\/revisions\/38204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}