I can't tell if you're being sarcastic. But in this case, it's not some sort of picayune hair-splitting going on. The word "theft" has visceral, ancient connotations for most people. Those with a horse in the much more abstract copyright infringement race would very much like it if everyone would please ignore any and all subtleties and call it "theft".
Squatters also deprive landowners of the potential use of their property, may cause damage or other economic harm, but unless they're taking items from the land and not giving them back, we don't call that theft. We call it trespassing, maybe vandalism. If my neighbor opens a sewage plant in his backyard, it certainly would deprive me of potential sales or rentals of my property, but we still don't call it theft. In fact, we have to make up special zoning laws that restrict what people can do with their property to address just this case, because no preexisting concept works. (Sound familiar?)
These distinctions matter. If they didn't, we wouldn't be arguing about it, would we?
Yes, I do think it is a bit rich for people who are using luxury goods without paying for them because they disagree with the terms they're being sold under to complain about the specific words the sellers use to refer to them.
Just be happy they haven't wised up and started calling pirates "content rapists"; rape is also pretty hard to quantify in dollar terms.
I'm not arguing that copyright infringement is right any more than I'm arguing trespassing or operating a sewage treatment plant in a residential neighborhood are right, only that they're not automatically "theft" just because they're bad.
We have distinctions between different crimes for good reason. Death penalty for speeding? I'm sure some who have lost their loved ones to reckless drivers might agree. But we as a society have pretty much decided that while there should be a punishment, it should not be that harsh.
Squatters also deprive landowners of the potential use of their property, may cause damage or other economic harm, but unless they're taking items from the land and not giving them back, we don't call that theft. We call it trespassing, maybe vandalism. If my neighbor opens a sewage plant in his backyard, it certainly would deprive me of potential sales or rentals of my property, but we still don't call it theft. In fact, we have to make up special zoning laws that restrict what people can do with their property to address just this case, because no preexisting concept works. (Sound familiar?)
These distinctions matter. If they didn't, we wouldn't be arguing about it, would we?