The notion that imaginary property can be "stolen" is so ridiculous and dystopian to me. Information isn't ownable, and the assertion that it can be was dreamt up by and for lawyers. We finally invent something - The Internet - that lets information be free and available to everyone, and computers that let people share copies of thing at effectively no cost, and rent seeking lawyers go and invent some bullshit to fuck it all up by bribing congress to make it law that benefits them immensely to everyone else's net detriment.
China doesn't recognize dystopian American copyright laws. Why should they? They're not China's laws, and they're detrimental to China.
Asserting "fairness in the marketplace" and copyright infringement (and calling it theft) in the same paragraph is absurd. In a fair marketplace, copyright infringement isn't a thing, and neither is "Imaginary Property" law. And don't get me started on software patents.
That said, I also feel no pity for TikTok and I'll never install it. I don't have the facebook app either.
I wish there were no software patents, and I can even understand why someone might cheer on countries that don't respect their IP treaty commitments[0] as a sort of anarchist burn-it-down position.
But as long as IP is a thing in the world economy we shouldn't be surprised that the countries where it's protected take issue with the countries where it's not.
The original "imaginary property" is land. There are people who make the same argument against the legal fiction of "owning" a piece of the ground. I'm not sure they're wrong, but I'm happy to "own" my house (subject to the continued good graces of the government in the country in which it's located, etc, YMMV).
The notion that imaginary property can be "stolen" is so ridiculous and dystopian to me. Information isn't ownable, and the assertion that it can be was dreamt up by and for lawyers. We finally invent something - The Internet - that lets information be free and available to everyone, and computers that let people share copies of thing at effectively no cost, and rent seeking lawyers go and invent some bullshit to fuck it all up by bribing congress to make it law that benefits them immensely to everyone else's net detriment.
China doesn't recognize dystopian American copyright laws. Why should they? They're not China's laws, and they're detrimental to China.
Asserting "fairness in the marketplace" and copyright infringement (and calling it theft) in the same paragraph is absurd. In a fair marketplace, copyright infringement isn't a thing, and neither is "Imaginary Property" law. And don't get me started on software patents.
That said, I also feel no pity for TikTok and I'll never install it. I don't have the facebook app either.