In a world where mackerel fillets are secured with metal chains in supermarkets and dishwasher tablets are kept under lock and key, petty theft has become a pervasive norm. This is not merely about stolen goods but a broader cultural shift where entitlement and impunity reign. From verbatim copying of articles to AI models training on copyrighted content, and even geopolitical land grabs, theft is accelerating, driven by technology, inequality, and political leadership.
The Digital Buffet: How Technology Legitimises Stealing
The internet has fundamentally transformed our relationship with ownership, creating a digital culture where stealing is often seen as frictionless and victimless. Aggregator websites, viral meme accounts, and the ubiquitous practice of screenshotting and sharing content blur the lines between creator and creation. Ideas, thoughts, and images are swept into a common buffet, accessible to all with little regard for original authorship.
Generative AI models, which train on billions of scraped items including copyrighted writing, music, and art, are simply extending this established tradition. As Karen Hao notes in her book Empire of AI, developers often view everything as data to be captured and consumed. John Phelan of the International Confederation of Music Publishers describes this as "the largest intellectual property theft in human history". Yet, with big tech and governments often turning a blind eye, there are few penalties, leaving creators with little recourse beyond plaintive appeals about business viability.
Inequality and Power: The Roots of Theft
Theft is not a new phenomenon; it is one of the oldest human behaviours, driven by asymmetries of power, wealth, and opportunity. Inequality fosters thieves on both sides of the spectrum, from street-level criminals to colonial empire-builders. This dynamic rebrands acquisition as a form of victorious conquest, underpinned by an anti-honour code where might makes right.
Political leaders, such as Donald Trump, exemplify this doctrine of coercive acquisition. Boasting about grabbing whatever he wants—from Venezuelan oil tankers to classified documents—Trump represents a principle where theft is normalised as a tool of strength. His vision for Gaza, rich in AI imagery and unveiled by Jared Kushner, reads like a kleptomaniac's dream, reflecting a global erosion of taboos over territorial land grabs, from Crimea to the West Bank.
Societal Consequences: When Theft Becomes the Norm
As theft permeates every level of society, it reshapes how we view rules, conventions, and our fellow humans. When countries are built on stolen labour or peoples are displaced for commercial gain, smaller acts like watching pirated sports streams seem trivial by comparison. This normalization raises dystopian questions: what if tech giants like Google or WhatsApp held our data hostage for ransom? In a world where personal boundaries are illusions and ownership is merely hard power, mass theft begins to look like an unanswerable business case.
David Graeber's insight haunts this reality: "impersonal, commercial markets originate in theft". It underscores the irony that our market-driven societies are founded on stolen foundations. In response, we grip our phones tighter, add watermarks to creative work, and support policies that address inequality rather than exacerbate it. Yet, the path forward remains uncertain, as we navigate an age where even mackerel requires a polite request to unlock.
