PooF wrote:Quite simply, there is no connection between copyright and morality.
The PROBLEM is that too many people believe this and this sense of "entitlement" is one of the things that I find disturbing about some of the younger generation (under 30). There is a huge connection between copyright and morality. Recording artists create music as their means of financial support... it's how they earn they're living. What the record companies take from this (as unfair as it may seem in some cases) is inconsequential. You're taking something that is legally owned and sold and are giving it away for free on a mass global level. That's digital piracy and it's a federal crime.
And to use the rationalization that you should be able to download and sample it, and then choose to buy it only if you really love it is really a messed up way of thinking. Would you go into a restaurant and order something off a menu and then only pay the bill if you liked your meal? How about a concert, or a play? Should you only pay for this if you like it? Art is subjective and trying to measure it by any personal objectivity is impossible.
We're talking about the LAW here and if it needs to catch up to the current technological climate and changes then it's up to the people to speak their piece and the lawmakers to change the laws. But right now, as it stands downloading/sharing music/movies for free is morally wrong and a crime as well.
Robin Hood was an OUTLAW, a criminal whose actions were romanticized in a much larger story. Sure... people cheered his actions but does that mean we should get back at the bankers who conned folks into bad mortgages by robbing the banks and giving the money to folks going through foreclosure? No. Why? Because Robin Hood is a fairy tale and we're dealing with reality here. We need to change government and laws in the ways that society and the courts have made available to us.
Those who upload or download music are stealing... way too conveniently.
