Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben Thornton
There was some interesting research on morality which suggested that across cultures there were two broad types of view. One, that we might call "conservatives" emphasised the need to follow social rules in defining what was good/bad. The other, which one might call "liberal" (less common and more recent historically) emphasised whether individuals suffered in defining what was good/bad.
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Well, this is an interesting way to look at moral questions, but my perspective was really a blending of the two. The copyright law was intended to protect the financial interests of the copyright holder (author, publisher), and my thinking in saying it is wrong to take books from the darknet, was that the copyright holder might at some point in the future choose to exercise his right by re-releasing the title. Thus, taking the book from the darknet would be stealing from him. I understand that the vast majority who use the darknet would never actually buy the book from the publisher, so it's not an issue
practically speaking, but morally, yes, it's still wrong from both the perspective of a "breaking the rules" outlook or a "harm to others" outlook.
--Maria