Morality and downloading

[Ravenshire]

There are also double standards: music companies get to shake people down for thousands of dollors; but porn companies get their cases thrown out as frivolous "set ups."

The music companies don't pursue cases until they've built good ones. The porn industry is notorious for phishing your IP out of the noise, filing a case and intimidating a settlement. If you want to do some serious research on that Benny, I can PM you a great example of a company that does it a lot.

It's not a double standard, it's (for the porn industry) a money making scam. They're abusing laws written to stop places like Kick Ass Torrents to wring money out of people, many of whom never downloaded their crap.

[The Grand Nudger]

Depends, Nestor, is someone claiming IP or is it public domain?  

(again, I don't want anyone to interpret my opinions too harshly, I'm onboard with Benny here in that things can be wrong -or even illegal-, but simultaneously not worth giving a shit about in context.  I may think its wrong to breach IP....but by and large, those whining about their IP being stolen can stuff it up their ass, as far as I'm concerned. I'm not a fan of the $50 dollar black box game model either...and I routinely rip games before I buy them...most of which I never end up buying...most of which I delete too free up space for yet more thievery. I see no need to justify that behavior to myself or anyone else - there's no requirement on my end that I be "in the right" all the damned time. I'm content calling it what it is, and accepting that my motivations don't change what it is, or turn it into something that it is not. IP laws exist to facilitate IP creation...and yes they can be abused...but victimizing the abuser isn't, by any stretch, all of a sudden ethical or moral by reference to that abuse. Two wrongs and all that jazz.)

[bennyboy]

Here's a thought: the compulsive need for the moral high horse is almost for sure a vestige of Christian morality, imposed by royalty and the church, and followed seriously by neither. When did I become the keeper of all that is good and holy, that I can't play a couple unlicensed songs on Youtube or something just because I can?