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I'd like to make the point that in America copyright has been completely perverted by corporate interests. Copyright was intended by our Nation's founders to strike a balance between rewarding the creator of the work and the general promotion of arts and science.
But because in the USA rich corporations can essentially buy any law they want due to the power of campaign contributions we now have a warped copyright law that exists only to bring wealth to the corporate owners of our common culture. The Constitution states that copyright shall be for a limited time? But Copyright was recently extended to something like 90 years past the death of the author. How is that limited and how does that promote arts and science?
Another problem is the criminalization of casual sharing. Until recently breaking copyright was a civil offense that was usually only an issue between two businesses or artists. Now, however, if a happy teenager makes a mix tape of her favorite tunes and shares it with Grandma they are both felons. Corporate cartels like the RIAA push for ever more draconian laws so there is no end in sight.
As a people we are impoverished by the control that corporations have over our shared culture. It is sad beyond measure that literally everything in our society has to be monetized.
So, in the end, because copyright law has simply become a scheme for further enrichment of huge corporations I have no problem with people who download and share any kind of cultural material for personal use. People have lost almost all of their fair use rights and I don't blame them at all for fighting back in the only way that is available.
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