As I’ve said elsewhere, I’m a little older. I hear a lot about AI. I’m just trying to figure out what’s “good” AI, what’s “bad” and if there’s even a difference. I do know that there’s the whole stealing content to train AI bs going on, but is it deeper? Is there such a thing as good AI? Just trying to learn so I can be better person

  • Riskable@programming.devEnglish
    2·
    17 hours ago

    “IP theft” is a rhetorical term invented by the MPAA/RIAA in the 90s. It’s not a real crime. It’s just propaganda.

    There’s no law on the books that even remotely resembles “IP theft”. Here’s what we’ve got:

    • Copyright law. Which can be violated. Normally, when you violate copyright that’s a civil offense. Not a criminal one. Criminal prosecution of copyright violation is pretty rare, though there’s been a recent uptick with lawsuits against illegal IPTV sites and Anna’s Archive.
    • Trademark law. This is all about dealing with counterfeits and fraud (e.g. misrepresenting a trademarked brand).
    • Patent law. Pretty self explanatory, except software patents shouldn’t exist. Every software patent that’s every been granted is 100% bullshit and should never have happened.
    • Trade secrets. Not really relevant to this discussion but there’s laws about it that are really, really hard to litigate (again, civil law). You could copy the secret recipe for Coke but that wouldn’t be “theft”. It’s… Complicated.
    • Some obscure stuff like integrated circuit topography and in Europe there’s laws around databases.

    Not a single one of these laws deals with “theft”. The entire concept of theft is orthogonal to intellectual property.

    Until the MPAA/RIAA started their marketing campaigns in the 90s, “IP theft” as a concept didn’t exist. It wasn’t a thing. It still isn’t a thing. It’s propaganda/marketing BS.