Is stealing only based on the willingness of the owner?

[hopeforfaith]

Say I have some notes from a course and I borrow them to my friend. If the tutorial school is against it, then is it stealing? If I reilliterate to my friend what the teacher talked about in class and the tutorial school forbids recording in lessons, is it stealing?

 

[Dale_M]

Isn’t there a big difference between taking notes and recording a lecture?

A student writing down notes is transcribing, by hand, lhis or her own impression of what was discussed in class. However, recording the lecture (audio or video) would be creating **a copy of the teacher’s presentation. **

If audio or video recording is forbidden, then it would be theft regardless of whether the recording is loaned to others. I don’t think the same could be said about a student’s personal notes, even if they are loaned to someone else.

 

[Mintaka]

Actually, unauthorized recording of a lecture is more of a violation of privacy than a theft. It’s a secret surveillance thing, not a bootleg thing.

Borrowing notes is “frowned upon” by schools because they want you to take your own notes. However, it’s ultimately no different than if you just asked your friend to reiterate what the teacher said, and you took your own notes from that. It’s not stealing.

If your school absolutely forbids copying notes, then it’s a matter of obedience to the people put in charge of you in school, but it’s still not about stealing.

If you borrowed your friend’s notes without asking, it’s a matter of possible impoliteness, but not stealing. Unless you kept their original notes and didn’t give them back.