The big difference is between stuff that you release and stuff that you don't.
Once released bits become common knowledge and they lose a large amount of their potential value because the scarcity element is instantly gone.
This is one of the driving engines behind the the whole software-as-a-service game, it gets rid of the problem of piracy and it turns the product into a subscription rather than a one-time sale.
No second hand version of google docs will ever be sold.
Paid mobile apps are widely released, and people I know make a living selling them. Is anyone who buys a mobile app a chump?
And what about the ACH information? If you came across that sort of data you would feel free to use it to transfer a few million bucks to your own account? It would be just as easy as copying a movie. So if the data is out there, you are arguing that it's OK to do that?
> Paid mobile apps are widely released, and people I know make a living selling them. Is anyone who buys a mobile app a chump?
You used google and facebook as an example, they are clearly not releasing binaries but are in the service industry. Mobile applications (which I think are a transient phenomenon that will evaporate when mobile web applications will be more viable, the same happened with desktop software, with some notable exceptions) are already pirated wholesale (see http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-20107572-94/how-piracy-ruin...) that doesn't make the writers of mobile software 'chumps', but it does mean that they will have to factor this in or they will likely be hurt.
> It would be just as easy as copying a movie, and the data is out there, so you are arguing that it's OK to do that?
No, obviously I'm not arguing that it is ok to do that.
Once released bits become common knowledge and they lose a large amount of their potential value because the scarcity element is instantly gone.
This is one of the driving engines behind the the whole software-as-a-service game, it gets rid of the problem of piracy and it turns the product into a subscription rather than a one-time sale.
No second hand version of google docs will ever be sold.