Stealing

What type of thievery are you okay with?

Illegally downloading copyrighted material?  Bootlegging music and movies?  Plagiarism?  Pocketing $20 you saw fall out of someone's pocket? Etc?

Is there a limit to what you consider okay?  For example, you'd take the $20 but if a $100 fell out of someone's pocket would you return it?  What about if it was significantly more money than that?

Why are certain types of stealing okay?

Mp3s, movies, games... yeah I'm a right thief. I don't sell it. I can't justify paying $50+ on a game that could very well suck, and you can't return it. The demos show nothing. :(

i think it depends, really.

if i didn't see where the $20 came from and it was just laying there in the street.... yeah i'd keep it.  but if i SAW the money fall from someone's pocket, i'd give it back. 

i have also UNstolen something before!!  lol

i was at a department store poking around the clearance junk and my hands were full so i put a "lucky" brand chain in a pair of slippers that i bought (i intended to pay for the chain/charm) but had forgotten about it and only noticed it once i was already home.  later on i went back to the store an UNstole it! lol      i took it from my pocket and left it on the counter where the jewelry's displayed.   I was too embarrassed to give it back to the lady behind the counter.

i guess it all depends

I download mp3s and I tend to feel guilty about it. However, I also live in a country where I can't buy the albums I would want to buy. The only Western music sold here is pop music and it's not something I'm into. When I lived in the US, I did buy cds. 

I don't take money though. If I actually saw the money fall out of someone's pocket/purse/etc I would catch them and return it. Even when cashiers give me too much change back, I give it back to them. 

I would definitely give back money that I've seen fall from someone's pocket or purse/wallet. 

I've had that happen to me, so I ALWAYS return the favor/respect by giving back something I've found.  I've had $150 fall from my wallet during Christmas time shopping and a lady and her son were kind enough to follow me to my car and return it to me.  I was very very grateful and I've vowed to do the same when/if that happens to me.  In return for my giving me back my bundle of bills, I gave the little boy one of the gift cards that I had just purchased from the store.  That made me feel good and I'm glad I gave it to him because he turned right back around and went back into the store to go spend it. 

If I can associate it with a specific person then I don't keep it..... if i see it fall out of someones bag i give it back, if it's a purse/wallet/phone etc something which can be identified as belonging to an individual i give it back.

If i am walking and see loose money it's going in my purse.

i do download mp3 (lucky if it's 1 every 2-3 months) but i wouldn't download albums/ films/ games. 

I used to download movies and did feel a little guilty.  I "justified" the guilt by buying the DVDs of the movies I liked and would watch again rather than keeping the copies I had downloaded.

If I saw a small amount of cash in the street (£10 / $20) and it didn't obviously belong to someone, it would definitely go in my pocket, but if I saw someone drop it, or it was a wallet or purse, I would return it.  If it was a larger amount of cash I would hand it into the police station, so that the owner could claim it ( and if it remains unclaimed after a period of time, it's then sent to me as the finder and I would have a clean conscience!!)

I'm not okay with any of the kinds of thievery you mention.  I would not illegally download anything and I would not cheat on a test or plagiarize.  If I saw someone drop money I'd tell them.  I would not borrow anything without asking, even from a friend or family member.  That's just how I roll.

Edit:  If I find money I will keep it, I pick up pennies all the time and I once found a $100 bill.  If it were an unusually large sum of money I would notify the authorities.

I agree with Tom.

All stealing does is sew the seeds of negative impact.

The lifting of artistic materials for your personal pleasure and warped sense of entitlement is not the same as stealing an apple when you are poor and starving.

That twenty you pocket when you see who it rightfully belongs to could be that persons only coin to feed his/her family that day or gas money to get to work for a week.

If you haven't earned it, you don't deserve it.

i'm not ok with any kind of stealing. if i saw someone drop money, i would chase them down to return it. i've found wallets and cell phones before and i've gone out of my way to make sure they were returned intact to their owners. i know the feeling of losing a phone or wallet too well, and i think the feeling of getting someone their stuff back is WAY better than having a few extra bucks!

it's come back to me too, because once i drunkenly dropped my very new cell phone while riding the T. i realized it was gone and borrowed someone elses phone to call it. someone answered, said they had found it, and left it for me with the attendant at the next T station. 

wait, i actually just realized there is one kind of thievery i am ok with, i have several pens in my purse from my desk at work...does that count? :p  

I used to download things using kazaa but I got a virus and almost had to wipe my computer.  I figure that was my punishment for stealing music and stuff.  I'd never do it now and if I stole something, even accidently, my conscience would kill me.  Once when I got out to my car after a shopping trip, I found that I had accidently buried the laundry under my jacket.  I had done the self-checkout so I had buried both my coat and the soap.  I went back in the store and paid for the soap.  As for money, if I found a $20 just laying on the ground, I'd keep it.  I also found a $100 one time.  If, however, I saw someone drop some money, I'd give it back to them.  You never know if that's the only money that have and besides, it wouldn't be right to keep money if you know who it belongs to.  If I got too much change, I'd give it back because having worked retail, I know that the cashier is responsible for the money in his/her drawer, but one time when I was travelling, I didn't realize that there was too much change until we'd been back on the road for almost an hour.  We didn't go back for good reason, but I did feel guilty about that.

Original Post by jewelsmcblah:

What type of thievery are you okay with?

Illegally downloading copyrighted material?  Bootlegging music and movies?  Plagiarism?  Pocketing $20 you saw fall out of someone's pocket? Etc?

no, no, no, and no. 

i do think the music and movie industries need to adapt to technology and stop trying to sell us plastic copies when digital ones make so much more sense, but i still believe we should pay for the products. 

Original Post by jewelsmcblah:

Is there a limit to what you consider okay?  For example, you'd take the $20 but if a $100 fell out of someone's pocket would you return it?  What about if it was significantly more money than that?

Why are certain types of stealing okay?

theft is theft.  but to some extent, finders-keepers.  if i find a small amount of money and there's little or no chance of finding it's rightful owner, it's going in my pocket (from there, it might go to a good cause).  but if i know or can guess to whom it belongs, i have to give it back.

if it's a larger amount of money (ie: likely someone's rent money, the cash they were going to use to buy a bike or a car, etc.), i'd turn it in to police.

if it's a very large amount of money (ie: likely connected to criminal activity), i'm going to turn it in to keep my hands clean.

Original Post by moodymomma1977:

i think it depends, really.

if i didn't see where the $20 came from and it was just laying there in the street.... yeah i'd keep it.  but if i SAW the money fall from someone's pocket, i'd give it back. 

i have also UNstolen something before!!  lol

i was at a department store poking around the clearance junk and my hands were full so i put a "lucky" brand chain in a pair of slippers that i bought (i intended to pay for the chain/charm) but had forgotten about it and only noticed it once i was already home.  later on i went back to the store an UNstole it! lol      i took it from my pocket and left it on the counter where the jewelry's displayed.   I was too embarrassed to give it back to the lady behind the counter.

i guess it all depends

Then someone else saw the pretty charm on the counter and stole it! Lol!  All the work of returning it for nothing. Just kidding. :)

I've stolen some Japanese music before, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.  It was when I was a teenager, and even today it's not available to buy in the US.  I can import some of the CDs, but not all of them.  I've still got the ancient MP3s I downloaded years ago burned into a CD somewhere.  I hope whenever Alex and I take our trip to Japan I can buy the CDs.

Beyond that, I don't care for downloading music.  I'll listen to a few songs on Youtube and if I like it, I'll buy the CD.  If not, I'll buy the MP3 of the songs I do like.

Original Post by bagga:

I agree with Tom.

All stealing does is sew the seeds of negative impact.

The lifting of artistic materials for your personal pleasure and warped sense of entitlement is not the same as stealing an apple when you are poor and starving.

That twenty you pocket when you see who it rightfully belongs to could be that persons only coin to feed his/her family that day or gas money to get to work for a week.

If you haven't earned it, you don't deserve it.

That's true. I saw a ball of bills fall out of a woman's bag at the pool and returned it to her. She had four little kids with her so was very busy. She looked at me like " WTF, DO You WANT " when I tapped her shoulder. Firstly: I'd just said " ma'am .. um... Miss..excuse me.- cough- "  She didn't respond she was so busy with her little ones.  So I tapped her gently on the shoulder.

Then I got a GLARE. . . That turned into crying when I handed her back the  money saying she'd dropped it. She hugged me tighter than I'd ever been hugged. She kept telling me " you have no idea... This is my rent and food for the whole month...I'm leaving here to pay my rent and buy groceries. Thank you..and.. Bless you.. I'm sorry for being a bitch to you..  " All said as she sobbed about it. I just reassured her that it was nothing and she wasn't a biznatch. Lol! Just a busy mother.

It made me feel fantastic to have rescued her day. :) It was a large amount of cash. Either way: Small or large sum. I would've still returned it.

Music/Movies/Ect : I listen to music online and trade music with friends. I buy certain cd's and my sisters/friends buy cd's. My sister usually gives me or my mom the cd's once she's downloaded to her Ipod/or listen to it, ect. She isn't much for repeating the same music. She ( Or: Should I say my mom) buys a lot of new stuff for her. Teenagers, Lol. Sometimes friends and I exchange cd's. I'll trade you these two for that one. It's not like they'll give you much in trade at the store. Kinda like with games for wii/360, ect. It just makes more sense to cut deals with friends than the store. The same goes with movies/books, ect. Collections are sorta outdated. I don't know a lot of people that keep such things for extensive periods. I'm constantly looking for a new assortment. I don't like listening to the same thing a billion times. I don't need or want 3,000 songs, ect. I only have a few cd's that have stuck around since purchased. Lol. Blah blah. I'm not a pirate! Argh.

Glad to see there aren't as many thieves here as I thought.

What made you think that there are thieves here?

if someone says they have never stolen anything it is the same as saying they have never told a lie..... that is just not the case at some point in every ones life regardless of their thinking now the have done both.

While it's probably safe to bet that the majority have either told a white lie or lied by omission, I don't know that it's fair to assume that everyone has stolen at some point in their life - particularly those old enough to not be very internet savvy.

Taking a cookie from the jar when you were told not too = theft, taking your sisters t-shirt without her knowledge = theft,  etc. It doesn't have to be something which costs a lot of money as it was pointed out on another thread theft is theft if you have taken it without the owners permission it = theft.

Or are those types of theft acceptable?

Don't forget that according to the recording industry that making a mix tape (or cd) for your friend/significant other/whatever = theft.  Copying a cd for someone = theft.  They were (and perhaps still do) considering that ripping a cd onto your computer = theft.  However those things they can't possibly track.  But they can find out if you download music online so they pursue that.

I just thought of a couple other things that are considered stealing.

I'm pretty sure that the networks consider it stealing if you record a tv show.

Another thing that is considered theft is when poor countries ignore intellectual property rights and manufacture generic medicine, such as AIDS medicine.  I'm curious if people here are also opposed to this type of theft...