RE: Morality and downloading
April 17, 2015 at 8:17 am
(This post was last modified: April 17, 2015 at 8:18 am by Quatermass.)
(April 13, 2015 at 5:34 pm)bennyboy Wrote: I'm curious about the moral arguments for and against downloading-- specifically for downloading games, images/data and applications for free when the creating company intended for all users to make a purchase. I don't care so much whether it's right or wrong-- but on what basis the moral arguments are to be made.
For example, how does the concept of social contract apply here? How are "right" and "wrong" defined in terms of data?
It seems to me that very many people do download things, and with a clean conscience, because they don't believe that any social contract exists, and that downloading is therefore a-moral rather than immoral. Ideas?
(And please don't just shout "Downloading is stealing!" I'm looking for a moral framework in which decisions can sensibly be made)
I download on the basis of two factors:
1) That whatever I want is no longer commercially available (like old computer games or books that are out of print). Or whatever I want is not made for my platform (mac) by the original developer/publisher and someone has made a port of it.
2) Try before you buy. If I missed a film at the cinema, then I'll download the DVDrip (but not the camcorder) from wherever and watch it. If the film was good, I'll go and buy the DVD because I'll actually want to own the physical copy. If the film wasn't good, well, I've saved myself some money.
I think many of the arguments against downloading are fallacial. You're not really harming the DVD industry since a film's cast/crew doesn't make any money from DVD sales, only the corporations do. That and downloading has actually seen an increase in DVD sales in the past while services such as LoveFilm and Netflix have caused DVD sales to drop dramatically.
