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by ummzokbro 933 days ago
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods.(1)

This term was coopted by the MAFIAA because literal descriptions such as file sharing or unauthorized copying are not objectionable to the general public who see them as minor / insignificant and thus are not sensational enough to draw the outrage needed to enact disproportionate criminal penalties(3) and thus preserve their monopolistic(2) profits.

1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy

2 - By way of ridiculously long copyright terms or distribution oligopolies / monopolies

3 - See 'conspiracy to commit' charges carrying de-facto life in prison penalties

1 comments

I know. But the word had been redefined by them, and then we might as well throw it back into their amoral faces.
The figurative IP rights infringement sense of the word "piracy" is over 250 years old.

Source: OED [1],

2. fig. The appropriation and reproduction of an invention or work of another for one's own profit, without authority; infringement of the rights conferred by a patent or copyright.

1771 Luckombe Hist. Print. 76 They..would suffer by this act of piracy, since it was likely to prove a very bad edition.

[1] https://archive.org/details/the-oxford-english-dictionary-19...