From: bkfsec at sdf.lonestar.org (Barry Fitzgerald)
Subject: Hacking into private files, my credit card
 purchases, personal correspondence or anything that is mine is trespassing
 and criminal.

Jesse Valentin wrote:

>
> My point is that just because something isn?t recognized as incorrect 
> by a ?legal entity? this doesn?t necessarily indicate that the 
> conclusion is sound?
>
>
I agree with your point here, but you missed one of the nuances of my 
argument. The definition of theft isn't just a legal definition that 
occurs at one point in time. It's a *long*-standing legal concept that 
is grounded in millennia of philosophical interpretation.

Stealing is unathorized possession, not unathorized use. It's not just a 
legal contextual definition, it's a very set in stone and time tested 
legal definition.

It doesn't matter what someone's opinion of the misuse of the word is. 
The sky is not blood red no matter how many people say that it is.

And those who try to redefine theft with the intention of affecting an 
emotional reaction should recieve copious amounts of opposition because 
they're trying to affect the legal infrastructure by manipulating the 
language and, by extension, changing people's opinions when standard 
methods of changing their opinions simply don't work.

In other words: the drive is manipulative and it's being carried out by 
people who are malicious to society as a whole. Unfortunately, they've 
had great success in this and the average person misuses the terms 
without even knowing that they're doing harm.

-Barry

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