:Thou shall not steal”

Yesterday there were many places on the internet that were dark in protest and demonstration of not supporting current legislation regarding internet piracy. The SOPA/PIPA bills have caused quite a stir and controversy between content creators and content distributors. Hollywood and Silicon Valley are not happy with each other right now. This is not a new struggle and it predates the internet. Content creators have always been highly protective of their intellectual property (rightfully so) and done all they can to maximize the opportunities from their work. Before the internet, copying, plagiarism, recreating, etc. were all there. The internet and file-sharing (which Napster introduced many of us too) just made the problem worse and put the opportunity to use and manipulate intellectual property in the hands of the masses. Technology companies want to democratize content distribution so that more people can see and enjoy the content creators’ work. At the heart of the issue, and there is a compromise and a middle-ground to be reached; it is about the respect of another and being honest, or not. It comes down to basic values that are either followed or not. If someone steals from another, there will be repercussion and backlash, whether it is legislated or not. We are all better off starting from a place of honesty to build trust and when that happens consistently then many of the questions fall away.

Moses brought us God’s written word when he delivered the Ten Commandments. God knows our nature so He had to be blunt and clear with us, “Thou shall not steal”. Sounds easy to understand, but if it is so easy to not to do, then why did God have to tell us not to do it? Because, Father knows best, that’s why! We should all take a good hard look at ourselves and how we work. Do we steal? On the big things, of course not, but how about on the little things where cutting a corner, smoothing out an expense report, knocking off an hour early here and there, taking credit for someone’s idea, copying that photograph from the web for our work without paying for it? Do we do those? The little things are as big, if not bigger than the obvious stuff. At least, in God’s eyes they are. He didn’t say “Thou shall not steal the big and noticeable stuff”. At the heart of who we are, let’s be sure that we don’t find ourselves stealing.

Reference: Exodus 20:15