Not sure why very nice people on the internet are apologizing for laws that prohibit ripping off other people's work. These laws are very important.
The guy clearly understood he was stealing, paid his debt to society, and now has a bunch of knowledge and experience that he can put to use doing something legit and hopefully profitable. I wish him well.
"I’m really proud of what I made, yes. I come from a broken home, and the community was a home to me for six years, so I have solace there. It also taught me an endless amount about running a startup, achieving critical mass, and talking and listening to customers. If I were to do it over again, I would have probably made an effort to make money instead of just coast."
He was streaming sports events live.
"These laws are very important."
For what? For the critical service of big commercial sports event? Society would break down, if they loose too much paying customers to teenagers who make a website and a little profit?
Now sure, he was making profit, he is and was not a free information idealist. But also not really a criminal in my perspective deserving prison. Definitely not if prison is what you imagine to better someone.
> For what? For the critical service of big commercial sports event?
Thank you, TIL. For some reason I assumed that those big sport events bring money to hosts. Your question reminded me of this and I went to check and was surprised to find out that it's not true.
> Not sure why very nice people on the internet are apologizing for laws that prohibit ripping off other people's work. These laws are very important.
I would argue that they are not. In fact, I don't think life without intellectual property laws would be at all that different. Ideally, IP would reward creators and inventors, but in practice, it protects the rents of publishers, Big Pharma and Big Tech instead of fostering innovation.
The fact that people, for instance, write free software, and that such software is often superior to commercial, copyrighted software clearly shows that such a model is viable. There would also clearly still be people making music, movies, etc.
Another issue is that enforcement of IP laws is very uneven. In many parts of the world, people already freely share copyrighted materials and freely copy drugs. Effectively, all of this is subsidized by American consumers who don't sail the high seas for their software and movies, and spend thousands a month for their prescriptions.
> Not sure why very nice people on the internet are apologizing for laws that prohibit ripping off other people's work. These laws are very important.
FYI, I'm a bluegrass musician. And I don't know who you think these laws are important for, but it sure as heck isn't us. The copyright industrial complex is screwing musicians first and foremost.
> The guy clearly understood he was stealing,
...then he understood wrong. Stealing is when you take something from someone. In that case, the person from whom you stole no longer has that thing. Copying is not stealing.
If you regard copying as stealing, then I encourage you to steal my music. And if you like it, encourage your friends to steal it from you.
Copyright, like property rights in general, is really about control, not about physical things or spaces. Stealing is when you usurp control for yourself over the rightful owner’s objections. If you tell people to take your stuff or use it however they like, they can’t be stealing.
That, although it's true that stealing is taking without permission, it must involve taking away, and not merely copying, just as trespass is not stealing somebody's land and assault is not stealing their body.
The guy clearly understood he was stealing, paid his debt to society, and now has a bunch of knowledge and experience that he can put to use doing something legit and hopefully profitable. I wish him well.