I really enjoyed watching the movie. A very important point was brought up about halfway through, when the definition of “theft” was questioned. It was said that the crime had to be done for money, and also it had to deprive the original owner of their property. Both of these were argued against, because it wasn’t done for money, it was done for the sake of being done, and also the original owner wasn’t really being deprived of property, since a copy was made. I kind of agree with this, but while it’s not being done for money, it’s costing the person from whom it’s taken money, since they may be planning on selling it in the future. They had to make a whole new category under theft for this type of crime, “pirating”.
I don’t think what the phone phreaks did was “wrong” because they were pushing their limits not for profit, but just to see if they could, and to advance the technology that was available by homebrewing. Without them, I don’t think we would be where we were today technology-wise, and I think they should be very proud of what they have accomplished, regardless of whether it was legally “wrong” or not.
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