On Fri, Jul 5, 2013 at 3:10 AM, Rustom Mody <rustompm...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Thu, Jul 4, 2013 at 9:16 PM, Steven D'Aprano > <steve+comp.lang.pyt...@pearwood.info> wrote: >> >> Which crime is that? Presumably you mean an actual criminal felony, not a >> mere civil offence. Under which jurisdiction? >> >> If piracy is a crime, and not just a civil offence, then surely so is >> libel. > > You've got your OO class hierarchy mixed up and then imposing that on me. > > See > http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/crimes-felonies-misdemeanors-infractions-classification-33814.html > > I did not say or suggest felony. > Maybe misdemeanor or infarction. Dunno which. IANAL...
The specific terms don't really matter here, but in most jurisdictions, "felony" will be a term that unambiguously refers to a crime against the law, as distinct from what Steven is comparing against, civil damages. If I shoot you dead, I have committed murder. This is a crime. If I put up a sign saying "Entrance to <your business name>" over my own door, next to yours, then I have committed no crime, but you can sue me in civil court for your loss of business resulting from my action. Whether one of them is classed as a felony in some jurisdiction or not doesn't matter, what matters is that one is simply not a crime. Violating a license agreement usually is not a crime (and if done in good faith, is often considered a bug to be fixed, not a suit to be pressed - but that does NOT apply here), hence the analogies to criminal action somewhat break down. That said, though, offering in public to rip someone off is just as unwise as offering in public to commit a crime. ChrisA -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list