4 ms·

Ethics and legality are orthogonal. Not all legal activities are ethical, and not all ethical activities are legal.

• cubefox 3y ago
  Pirating videogames is clearly unethical. It's a form of freeriding.
  • LocalH 3y ago
    It's not "clearly unethical", there is much more nuance than a "black or white" morality. It's also paramount to proper preservation of works. We can't trust rightsholders to be the stewards of their own preservation, as we have historically seen them destroy works because they don't want to store the archive. Given that copyright's end game is the public domain, I don't believe a rightsholder should even have the right to destroy a work. They owe that work to the public in the long term. If you believe that is "entitlement", then you argue against the core reason for copyright's existence, according to the copyright law of the US (which has also permeated the rest of the world in effect). Some pirates may just want free shit, yes. But some pirates, especially modern ones, really are working more on a preservationist angle and intending to ensure that works aren't lost or destroyed. Rightsholders aren't forced to ensure that the public actually has access to a work once copyright expires, so the public must ensure that for themselves.