You might pirate a song, but you’d never steal a CD. Are you being a hypocrite? In the end you get the same result, the song you want for free. But which is worse, or even which is better? Stealing online or stealing a physical object? I’m going to talk about that here with my own perspective.

I am a digital artist, most of my art has been created and uploaded via computer. Here’s an example:

A piece I drew for a new Netflix show, Voltron Legendary Defenders. I create a lot of art like this to cater to fans.

To me, my digital pieces are just as important (if not even more so) than my traditional pieces on paper. In the digital format I can truly show the full extent of my talents.

But what would happen if someone steals it? Deletes my artist comment, saves it, reuploads it under their name, and either claims they drew it or simple write “credit to the artist” without any real credit at all. I upload my art for the enjoyment of others, and I have quite the fan base because of it and they make it all worth it. But when that one person decides to be an a$$, it makes me doubt my choices in sharing my creations.

The point I’m trying to make is that digital property and physical property are both equally important and depending on the content, digital can be even more so. It’s so much easier to steal digital property, it’s just a few clicks and no internet police are going to chase you for it. And when content creators such as myself do report our property being stolen, people brush it off and say “This is the internet, what did you expect?”

Just imagine if you were holding an art show, and somebody just walks out with one of the pieces. When you try to make a scene and call the cops to catch them, everyone just shakes their heads and says you’re overreacting. “This is reality, what did you expect?”

And digital content can contain so much more than anything physical. A single file folder in a desk drawer might contain a single report. A single folder on a computer’s desktop can contain hundreds, if not thousands of pages of reports. One folder is stolen, but the digital one has a much bigger impact on the person owning it.

Digital property is just as important as physical property, and in some cases is even more important. It’s time we realize the damage digital theft causes.