Boing Boing reports that sixteen year old student Steve Geluso was given an F on his exit exam for trying to draw a distinction between theft and piracy. You can read scans of his essay here. While young Steve’s essay could use some work and I would argue that elements of it are naive or incorrect, on the whole he is trying to make a point which is absolutely true, and which is clearly reflected in the legal system.

If you steal a CD, you are guilty of petty theft. If you send an mp3 file to one of your friends, you are guilty of copyright infringement or piracy. Guess which one carries the insanely stiff penalty?