Replying to Why Stealing is Bad, in 659 words...

Alright, so most of us know that stealing is, well, for lack of a better word, bad. It falls under the same category as lying and cheating, and really isn't helping anyone out at the end of the day. Unfortunately, this isn't readily apparent to everyone.

As it turns out, a certain member of this very site, whose identity is being withheld in order to protect his personal safety, figured out that he could "order" movies from the Level 1 site by entering "fake" credit card information. As the site was originally encoded, credit card information was not checked immediatley upon filling out the order form, and in fact, most orders were shipped before the card was actually charged. Our little friend received his DVD, and then passed along the fact that you could "get movies for free" from the Level 1 site by entering fraudulent information to some of his friends and acquaintances.

He made the whole matter worse by lying, insisting that he never received his DVD, and more or less denied that the whole situation had ever gone down. When his package was tracked to his front door, and his friends turned him in, his gig was up.

In lieu of pressing charges (internet Fraud is some serious business) or sending Freedle to break some legs, I agreed to let our friend share his story and what he learned from the whole situation.

His response, verbatim, is below.

The moral of the story? Don't steal, especially from people that are working their ass off to support the better parts of this industry.

J

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What I did was wrong because it is against the law and stealing money
from those who deserve it. It was credit card fraud and could have got
me charged or even put in jail. Level 1 productions deserves the money
they make from their hard work making such a great movie. Not only was
I stealing I also lied about it to get out of trouble. Lying and
stealing are both against the ten commandments in the bible. I tried
to make a profit by taking things from other people. Credit card fraud
is the fastest growing criminal activity and I almost helped it grow.
I should have admitted I did something stupid rather than trying to
lie and cheat my way out of it. I wouldn't steal a television so I
shouldn't tried to steal a video. If Shanghai Six was worth watching
and stealing it is worth buying. All the people at Level 1 worked hard
to make Shanghai Six and me trying to take it for free was wrong.
Stealing, Lying, Scamming and whatever else I did was wrong because it
was taking what wasn't mine. Stealing things physically is obviously
wrong and just because on the internet it isn't the same as stealing
something from a store doesn't mean that it isn't wrong. Myself trying
to steal a movie actually cost me and Level 1 money that didn't need
to be spent, with crime everyone loses.
I'm actually glad I got caught just because I've
learned that fraud, stealing and breaking the law in general is not
fun and that I'm not going to do it or anything of the same type
again. I learned that doing illegal things is not cool and I am never
going to do it again. I learned what criminal paranoia is and that I
don't like the feeling that every phone call is going to be for me and
every car is the police coming to take me away. I also learned that
doing something illegally is more work and I will get caught, costing
me more than legally paying for something. It took a lot of my time
and a lot of Level 1's Time, and in this day and age time is money.
What I did was unacceptable and cannot be excused. I found out that
just because something illegal is easy to do doesn't mean you have to
do it. I learned that it feels really bad knowing you did something
wrong but not being able to do anything about it without getting
yourself in trouble that could ruin you life. Feeling guilty really
hurts as does the feeling that you can't do anything about it. I
should have told the truth earlier before this turned into a big deal
and I was in serious trouble. I learned that being stupid and doing
stupid things just gets you in trouble and that you can't talk your
way out of everything. I learned that stealing, scamming, fraud or
whatever else you want to call the things I did is really scary. There
is no way to justify the things I did and especially lying to cover it
up. I am really sorry for all the time, money and effort it cost for
me

to be stupid. I apologize for lying, and trying to steal Shanghai Six.
I understand that what I did was a criminal offence and that I could
be charged with fraud. I thank you for not ruining my entire life just
because of something stupid I did when I was fourteen.
I know what I did was wrong and I know why. I'm really sorry about
this whole incident and I'm never going to do anything like this ever
again. I'm thank you for not getting the authorities involved and
possibly ruining my life. I learned a lot from this whole thing with
the biggest thing being breaking the law is NOT cool.