People who steal newspapers off of your front porch are pests. People who steal newspapers en masse to stop readers from getting the news are criminals.

That's what appears to be happening today on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. The Daily Tar Heel reports that about 10,000 papers were taken from newsracks in the wee hours Wednesday. The paper is printing more and redistributing them on campus today.

Meanwhile, the DTH Web site is unaffected. It includes an update about the thefts, and the front page is available in .pdf format. You can't steal that.

UPDATE: Sigma Chi members admit that they are the ones who stole the papers.