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Just because you're used to it, and because you find it easy and natural doesn't mean it is or should be legal.

There are people who, upon seeing the good laid out in a shop, will find it easy and natural to just pick it up and walk out. They find it easy and natural. It's right there.

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I'd analogise it to an open book in a public space. The information is there for you to see when you walk up to it, and you have to interact with it (turning the page) to see the other information. On being caught turning the pages on the book, you get yelled at and imprisoned, despite your contention that it's the book owner's fault for not making sure turning pages was prevented.

So what about looking at files in a hospital? Nothing wrong with that right? No-one can say anything bad about writing "Mr. Walsh had his testicles removed!" in the local paper. Right?!

This is the flaw with the analogy, as with all analogies that try to map meatspace to the internet. It would probably make sense to say that the book has been left in an apparently public space.

You'll get sued for disclosing the data to a newspaper, not for looking at them in the hospital.

Can we please refrain from trying to make analogies to stealing? Or really, any analogies to the physical world?

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