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arborescence • today at 4:28 PM • 0 replies • view on HN

I mean, it's not misinformation, though it may be incomplete. Taking the us example, in most states the larceny statute—the "crime" of theft, as you put it—does in fact require an intent to permanently deprive. Unlawful copying is not larceny or theft and no da could prosecutor could prosecute it under a larceny statute. It may of course be copyright infringement, which some people rhetorically analogize to theft. That analogy may be useful for some purposes, including for motivating normative intuitions. But it's categorically different as a matter of law.