RE: Morality and downloading
April 15, 2015 at 10:27 pm
(This post was last modified: April 15, 2015 at 10:30 pm by bennyboy.)
(April 15, 2015 at 8:52 pm)Parkers Tan Wrote:(April 15, 2015 at 1:13 pm)bennyboy Wrote: Why is it unethical?
Because it is taking the product of someone's labor without compensating them for it.
And why is this unethical? What is it that gives the creator of a collection of ideas or sounds the right to tell others what to do with them after they have been released into the public sphere? I'd contend that particularly with very popular music, enough is enough. Metallica, for example, isn't just a bunch of guys trying to sell new songs-- they are a part of American history and culture, and their names will be writ large long after they are dead and gone. Am I really going to go to hell because I downloaded albums I've already bought several times along with a couple I've never bought?
You are not considering the balance of rights and fair use. For example, don't people have a right to share their own experiences, even when those experiences involve the intellectual products of others? If I have a video of my teenage self thrashing to Metallica when I still had long hair, should Youtube unplug the audio because Metallica's lawyers' lawyers' minions are pissed that I didn't arrange a license?
