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People doing business on someones content - no, that's not OK. Copying someones work for your own consumption? Nothing is wrong with such behavior. Nor with no

• grzm 10y ago
  I think it's really important to be upfront with saying what you believe is wrong. It makes it really easy for people to dismiss an argument when all they read is "no, it is not stealing", particularly in this domain. It's too easy to roll this in with those who don't want to pay for anything, that all content should be free. You're arguing something different, which isn't clear until someone else digs down. I think you do yourself a disservice in doing so. I don't think whether or not you have disposable income is an important discriminant. Who decides whether you have enough disposable income to justify paying for content? I think there are a lot of issues with laws regarding intellectual property and content. Even though I disagree with them, I don't think flouting those laws is right or some sort of civil disobedience. Same with copying someone's work for personal use or non-commercial sharing. The existing framework is the one we've got, and there are currently ways authors or content providers can make it clear that they are willing to do so: Creative Commons licenses are one example. Likewise with other patronage models, such as Patreon. In other cases, you're benefitting from their work without them receiving compensation. There's no agreed upon transaction. Whatever term is used to describe it, I don't think it's right.