Cheating is when someone deliberately does something to their OWN advantage at the expense of someone else, and where there is an accepted code of conduct or a set of rules governing something.
The fact that the FIA are satisfied that Maclaren did not use any of the information, means that they didn't really cheat, but instead, were found guilty of merely posessing copyright information belonging to another team.
However, they have only been found guilty because it was one of their employees who appears to have acted on his own volition, and working to his own agenda. The fact that this person was contracted to the team, means that the team have to accept responsibility, and have been found guilty on a technicality.
Now Ferrari may claim that this os theft, and this is probably true, but thus far, they have not shown that Maclaren have either used the information or that they arranged the theft of the documents.
Now look at the Ferrari position. They had an employee, who was similarly under contract, and who was given the opportunity of taking documents and sending them elsewhere, which is exactly the same thing in reverse. They must also accept that they have been extremely lax with their security, and becausde of the contractual arangement, they must also accept a degree of blame for the incident.
It's very easy to get hysterical and point fingers, but it may actually be the case that Ron Dennis and the majority of the Maclaren team knew nothing about the matter, and if that is the allegation which Ferrari wish to pursue, then they have to come up with the evidence, because if it IS true, then not only have Maclaren (via their rogue employee) been guilt of theft, but they are now guilty of deception and contempt for the FIA.
That would make the whole matter far more serious, and the FIA would have the power to ban the team for a considerable period if that were the case, in addition to Ferrari being able to pursue both a civil case and a criminal case against them.
So the ball is now in Ferrari's court, and until such time as they can either put-up or shut-up with concrete information, then Maclaren remain innocent of those more serious charges until proven guilty.
What the good people on Yahoo answers think is irrelevant, because it is up to the FIA, the civil courts and the criminal courts to consider the evidence and make their judgements accordingly.
Maclaren are also claiming that Ferrari were deliberately trying to cheat by introducing a flexible floor on their 2007 Formula One car, as a means of gaining an illegal advantage in aerodynamics, so the allegations are flying both ways.
It really has absolutely nothing to do with Lewis Hamilton, because the FIA stated right at the start, that the drivers would not be compromised in any judgement, which would be clearly about the cars and the team-championship.
I don't know whether this is actually possible under the rules, but clearly, Ferrari would love to see themselves as the agrieved team who can pick up the championshop by having Maclaren banned, even if their car is not better or worse than the Maclaren.
You know, in the end, the design of a modern Formula One car is no longer about great differences in engines and other technical things. It is about aerodynamics and suspension design, and most of that knowledge, whether it is the work of Ferrari or Maclaren (or most other teams), all comes from the same source.......England. More or less all those involved in this technical debacle, were once fellow team members at Benneton, and that includes the remarkable Ross Brawn who achieved so much for Michael Schumacher.
Sadly, the whole business is doing a lot of harm to F1, and the biggest guilt must go to Ferrari, who are trying to gain an advantage by whatever means are possible, even if this brings the sport into disrepute.
Personally, I think Ferrari stink and Jean Todt is a funny little Frenchman devoid of a sense of sportsmanship, but that's just me!
It doesn't matter what I think.