Aussie sentenced to 3 years jail for trolling

Nitefly · 23 Apr 2011 at 09:51

Tefal said:
that's all very nice but it doesn't answer the question.

Your example was that piracy and theft would be treated the same in a harm based law system but different in a moral one.

I' masking why in your hypothetical moral system they are treated as differently, despite morally being the same.

We're talking about your example not reality so what the current system is has nothing to do with this.

I think I answered this with the first paragraph of my last post.

Tefal · 23 Apr 2011 at 09:54

Nitefly said:
I think I answered this with the first paragraph of my last post.

No you didn't you described why theft is criminal, not why piracy would not be criminal or are you saying they would both be criminal in a moral system?

But tbh lets face it the only reason why CW infringement isn't criminalised isn't anything to do with harm or morality it's purely practicality.

Nitefly · 23 Apr 2011 at 10:18

Tefal said:
No you didn't you described why theft is criminal, not why piracy would not be criminal or are you saying they would both be criminal in a moral system?

I see, no worries I'll flip it round for you.

Piracy is not (generally) a criminal offence as society does not recognise that the harm is great enough for it to constitute a criminal offence. Why that harm is not seen as being great enough is because of the missing element compared to theft - the taking of a physical thing, which society finds morally repugnant.

I think I should have tried to make it a bit clearer if I haven't put it accross yet, but there can be no way of criminalising using harm alone that excludes all morality, because it couldn't exist. Harm will always carry morality in its pocket.

But tbh lets face it the only reason why CW infringement isn't criminalised isn't anything to do with harm or morality it's purely practicality.

I don't think so. Just because a criminal offence exists doesn't mean that resources have to be allocated to charging individuals with it - criminalisation is there for prevention as well as retribution. Furthermore I would imagine that any individuals that were caught would be given an exemplary punishment as a means of pursuading people against it.