SlorgNet on 17 April 2009
File-sharing isn't stealing. It's making a perfect copy of something which already exists. The original is still there, in its pristine glory. Now if I claim that my new copy is my own work, that would be unjust, sure.
But that's not what Pirate Bay is doing. They're not downloading copies of Citizen Kane, burning DVDs, and selling them. They are simply providing links so that we, the people of planet Earth, can access media which other people have decided to share.
If that's a crime, then watching TV on a friend's TV set is a crime. Reading a library book is a crime. Buying a used CD is a crime. Using any idea, concept or innovation created by anyone, ever, is a crime.
