I think the reason we ended up down this road was that your original comment accused somebody of "illegal" use of OSX.
Firstly this makes the assumption that the person fell under US jurisdiction at the time of their use of the system.
It would also assume that the DMCA would apply to this specific person in this case. I don't know of any instance of a successful crimimal conviction against somebody for using their own legit software on a system they own themselves and we will not unless this is tested in court.
"Unlawful" would probably be a better term in this context. You could argue that this is pedantry but I think that throwing terms like "illegal" around in this way could cause undue anxiety to people who do not understand the specifics.
Fair point on the first one, I did assume US & DMCA.
For the second. A law is a law is a law, even if there is no successful conviction using it yet. It is a "Damocles Sword" hanging over every person in the country it was enacted until courts actually rule on it at which point we will know what the judiciary thinks of it.
As for "illegal" vs "unlawful". As far as I am concerned they are synonyms.
Firstly this makes the assumption that the person fell under US jurisdiction at the time of their use of the system.
It would also assume that the DMCA would apply to this specific person in this case. I don't know of any instance of a successful crimimal conviction against somebody for using their own legit software on a system they own themselves and we will not unless this is tested in court.
"Unlawful" would probably be a better term in this context. You could argue that this is pedantry but I think that throwing terms like "illegal" around in this way could cause undue anxiety to people who do not understand the specifics.