Benny, the moral framework is stealing. So, why is stealing wrong? As with most things we view as immoral as opposed to amoral, the framework is 'Do as ye would be done by': I don't steal because I don't like being stolen from.
If someone creates a data construct (digital music, video, whatever) with the express, explicit intent of selling it for money, they are engaging in the social contract upon which we've all agreed (people who decline to believe in the social contract have every right to find a deserted island somewhere and set up shop on their own). There simply isn't a moral justification for taking it without paying. There is no moral difference between hiding a game disc under your coat and scurrying out of the shop and downloading it without paying (although, I am prepared to listen to arguments that there is an economic difference).
Simply because a creation is not a physical object doesn't make it fair game for theft - property is property. We punish car thieves and shoplifters because they have committed the moral transgression of theft. Lifting intellectual property is no less immoral.
Boru
If someone creates a data construct (digital music, video, whatever) with the express, explicit intent of selling it for money, they are engaging in the social contract upon which we've all agreed (people who decline to believe in the social contract have every right to find a deserted island somewhere and set up shop on their own). There simply isn't a moral justification for taking it without paying. There is no moral difference between hiding a game disc under your coat and scurrying out of the shop and downloading it without paying (although, I am prepared to listen to arguments that there is an economic difference).
Simply because a creation is not a physical object doesn't make it fair game for theft - property is property. We punish car thieves and shoplifters because they have committed the moral transgression of theft. Lifting intellectual property is no less immoral.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
