Of course harm matters. Stealing a priceless original is worse, and punished harder, than stealing a commodity out of a corner store. That doesn’t mean the latter is fine.
> a spectrum between "not fine" and criminal prosecution!
And I’d say someone who premeditates a company wide shutdown, triggers it, and then doesn’t offer to help after its damage becomes clearly apparent crosses the line of criminal responsibility.
Property, a social construct, is always imaginary. The ship on IP, from insider trading laws to copyright, has sailed. If the only argument against a potential crime is IP isn’t real, the person is probably wrong.
You’re correct, it is not copyright. It comes closer to me asking to use your computer to check my bank account and then emailing myself all your identify documents.
So what? That at most means they’re slightly different flavors of the abstraction we call “property”.
And owning property — even physical property — entails having the right to prevent other people from using it, even in ways that don’t deprive you of it. You can’t drive my car without permission, even if you bring it back in perfect condition and I wasn’t planning on using it that day.