According to "UK Pirates Face Intellectual Property Crackdown" on the BBC News (2013), the United Kingdom government has decided to fund a new police unit which will specialise in crimes involving intellectual property theft, both digital and physical products. The new unit can act to disrupt criminal activities and will cooperate with national and international police organizations.
People seem to treat different sorts of thieves very differently. If someone breaks into a home or office and steals cash or gold, most people probably think that person has done something wicked and should go to prison. But if someone steals the same amount of money from a person or business by, for example, selling pirated DVDs on Silom Road or pirated computer software at Pantip Plaza, many people seem to think those thieves should not go to prison. This seems a bit weird to me. Both groups of criminals are stealing. Both groups of criminals are harming their victims, so why shouldn't both groups of criminals be treated exactly the same way? Surely, the man who breaks into a home and takes money and the woman who sells pirated DVDs, or fake jeans, or pirated software, or fake medicines should both get the same sort of prison sentence?
And then there are the customers who buy the stolen goods. These people are supporting the thieves, so shouldn't they also be punished? If someone knowingly buys my stolen TV or my stolen Galaxy S3 (I'm thinking about getting an S4, but the S3 is still very good), I think they should be sentenced to prison for being the customer of the thief and helping him to profit from my loss. But isn't it reasonable for Microsoft, and Sony Pictures to feel the same way? Shouldn't people who knowingly buy illegal DVDs, fake Rolexes and the like also be sent to prison?
I can't see any good reason for treating these different sorts of thieves and their customers differently. Can you?
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