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I hate to quibble over words, but a painting can be stolen "from the Louvre" even if it's there on loan from a private collection, just as you could say, "The necklace was stolen from my jewelry box," without implying that your jewelry box was the legal owner of the necklace.



This is more like taking a photograph of a painting on loan to the Louvre, though--- they're alleging that a copy was made, in violation of their terms of service, of a document that they don't even own (but do host). In that case, I would think that you might be violating the Louvre's camera policy, and you might even be colloquially "stealing" something from the painting's author (e.g. if you go on to publish illicit copies from your photo), but you aren't plausibly stealing anything from the Louvre.


The argument over whether something digital can be stolen at all is a different argument than the one you made in the comment I replied to. The question of taking photographs of artwork (which are not exact copies, but which have their own cultural, educational, and commercial value) is a third question which is interesting in its own right. At this pace, I'm having a hard time keeping track of what we're arguing about.

In any case, my intention was not to signal my support for one of two predefined sides in a battle over the concept of intellectual property, it was just to point out stealing "from" doesn't have to have the meaning you read into it.




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