About 9 months ago, library staff caught a young man stealing DVDs from the library. He had come up with a simple plan. Each week he would come to the library and browse the DVD collection, select 6 or 7 DVDs and then wander around the library as if he was looking for books. After a while, probably when staff at the circulation desk were busy, he would wander downstairs and browse in the children's department and then finally walk out of the library with those 6 or 7 DVDs that had not been checked out.
Library staff began to notice that movies the catalog said were available on shelf were no where to be found. One staff member noticed a particular young man spending a lot of time looking at the DVDs but never checking anything out. Sure enough, he came in and we caught him red handed. He was arrested for the theft of 39 DVDs, sentenced to 2 years of probation, must pay restitution, and is not allowed in the library anymore.
A pretty obvious theft.
There is another kind of theft that we suspect is going on in the library on a regular basis. This is copyright infringement or piracy. Patrons borrow music and movies, take them home, and make copies of them. This is illegal. It is stealing from the owner of the copyright.
Should the piracy thief be treated differently?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment