Illegal downloading is not a victimless crime. The people who suffer from illegal downloading are those that hold the rights to whatever is being taken. In the case of music this would be the artist and the artist’s label. In the case of software this would be the programmers, software designer, and the parent corporation. When a person downloads illegally they are benefiting from the labor of someone else and not giving them the payment they are asking for, because of this there are victims.
Therefore, technically illegal downloading is not different from stealing. If you wouldn’t steal something from the store you shouldn’t download software or music without paying for it. However, because it occurs in your own home, behind a screen, people are able to dissociate themselves from their actions. It becomes an impersonal crime. You no longer feel like you are stealing from an individual because of the sense of anonymity the computer gives you. There is also the phenomena that “everyone else is doing it”. In that sense illegal downloading and stealing are different. People feel less personally accountable when illegally downloading.
ndifranco12 