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Has anyone brought up examples like the Great Gatsby? It's under copyright in the US, but out of copyright in Australia, and also, I believe, Canada.
In my system of morals, it can't be unethical to copy the book on one side of the street (Derby Line Vermont) and ethical to copy the book on the other side of the street (Stanstead Quebec).
I suppose that the most ethical thing for Australian downloaders would be to send a bit of money to the estate of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Of course, even if such an estate can be identified, no Canadian or Australian is going to do that. I conclude from this that none of us are perfectly ethical.
The unethicalness of copying an out of print book is minimal. But would it be better to get the copyright holder's address and mail them a dollar or two? Sure.
So does legality have nothing to do ethics? Well, if there is a chance of my getting arrested, and then unable to support my family, the action becomes unethical for that reason (unless there is compensating moral benefit, as in the underground railroad).
What about the possibility that there is an ethical aspect to supporting your country's laws, independent of whether the law is good, or enforced? I'm really on the fence there, but leaning towards no.
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