I'm willing to make this change. Mostly I just want to have something "punchy" that gets the message across.
However, although I'm willing to make the change, I don't agree with your reasons for it. The concept "steal" is quite broad -- broader than theft of property. If I steal your girlfriend, that doesn't mean that she's your property or mine.
Similarly, plagiarism is a moral issue quite separate from the legal status of things. Even someone opposed to copyright laws can agree that it is immoral to use an author's work without permission, that it amounts to stealing, in the broad sense.
But *my* point wasn't to take a specific position _in the Wikipedia_ on copyright laws. That's not appropriate for an encyclopedia. So I'll make a change.
lcrocker@nupedia.com wrote:
I understand your position, Larry, and I agree that you need the warning. But "DO NOT COPY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL" would work just as well, and would not be personally offensive to me and other dedicated, moral, hard-working, law-abiding, intelligent people working to abolish copyright law as it is today.
Imagine it like this: bigamy is illegal in every state. It is frowned upon by most religions and most people. But there are some people who are quite decent, loving, moral people working to change the laws and attitudes to make it legal. For them (and especially those not actively practicing) to see themselves called "perverts" or "criminals" in public is offensive, and doing so is most definitely a biased expression of political opinion, even though it happens to be the opinion of the vast majority.