The majority of people want free shit, regardless of whether it’s a giveaway or a download. That’s just not an argument for or against piracy. The legal stage

The majority of people want free shit, regardless of whether it’s a giveaway or a download. That’s just not an argument for or against piracy. The legal stage is not “can people get free shit in the future” but “can people take it upon themselves to gain/give reasonable and rightful access”. If we simply “give up the fight” and let companies decide what we can and cannot have, they will put locks on every piece of content. Then locks on every piece of hardware. Then locks on every interaction. Then silos around everything. And after that they will subjectively decide what we get exposed to since they own the distribution channel. Maybe no independent artists. Maybe no content that “has an agenda”. Maybe lists that would make banned book lists look tame. And that doesn’t even count the ability retroactively remove access to what you grew up on, what you love, and what you hold as important. Regardless of whether you “purchased” it or not (because in this scenario you would have “purchased” everything). If we hand them absolute power over our experiences we hand over everything.