Linux

I'm not commenting on their ethics one way or the other, not because I think stealing from your fellow man is okay (it's not), but because it's not relevant.

A criminal is still human and deserves to be treated as such, including certain rights and dignity. Theft is risky and it is hard and nobody's stealing from porches because their life is good, think about it - why would you if you could just buy the thing?

There's no fundamental difference like some evil chemical that makes them do bad things, it's just the reality they find themselves in at the time.

There's no reason that someone who does so out of whatever makes sense to them at the time should have their lives ruined forever for the revenue of some obnoxious online fuck. We all make mistakes.

In Canada AFAIK, it is illegal to post online footage of porch pirates because despite however bad it may be, they're still human beings with all the messy complexity that comes with it and thus a certain right to a degree of privacy. I believe this is a good thing.

On a more personal note, I feel strongly about this, I am from Russia. I dodged the draft and escaped. One way authoritarians gain power is by depriving the prisoners of rights, because anyone can be made prisoner with enough vague laws on the books.

It is important that we do not dehumanise criminals for at the very least this reason.