> In many states, "theft" is an umbrella term that includes all different kinds of criminal taking. This is the case in New York. Under the New York Codes, theft can be any type of taking, like identity theft, theft of intellectual property, theft of services and theft of personal property
If you're a mathematician and not a lawyer you might think those are different operations. But lawyers, judges, and juries have a unique capacity to argue that you're guilty of subtraction even if you only multiplied.
Does it matter? How is a random person on the internet sufficiently qualified to define theft in a complex domain like digital copyright and intellectual property? You don't have to be a lawyer to be skeptical of what someone says online.
My point is if they replied “yes” where would you be? It’s not inappropriate to be skeptical but asking a person for credentials online is next to useless.
Even if they were a lawyer, lawyers are frequently wrong in their interpretation of law, which is why they argue the relevant points in court, and a judge gets to decide which of them is right.
