Quote:
Originally Posted by Sregener
However, if one endeavors to live ethically, legally and morally, one would need to have a compelling reason to violate a law
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Some of us consider ethics to be a higher standard than morals and both higher than law. Law is merely the consensus lowest standard of behavior that society tolerates at a given point in time. Which means that law can only properly regulate public behavior.
Private behavior is the realm of personal ethics and history has shown that every single time that law is used to compel personal, private behavior, conflict ensues as there can be no consensus on purely private behavior that impacts nobody but the practicioner.
I understand that there are religions and cultures in the world that make us responsible for other people's behaviors but in the western technological society I live in, the courts have generally upheld that *I* am the sole custodian of my conscience when dealing with the purely personal. (And often beyond it. C.f., the Military draft and conscientious objectors.)
And being a product of the philosophy that prevailed at Salamis, that is exactly how I like it.
DRM stripping of legally purchased content for purely personal use impacts nobody but the consumer. Much like CD-ripping or DVD-ripping. The first is generally understood to be fair use, the second has been "proscribed" through the legal work-around of the DMCA. Much as prohibition proscribed alcohol consumption and the current generation of moralizers would like to proscribe sweetened drinks. The latter two should enjoy as much success as the first.
I do now currently engage in DRM stripping (No need, and I'm lazy.) but I do have the tools and make an effort to stay current so I will be at nobody's mercy. Until somebody can prove to me that actual *unnecessary* harm will accrue to somebody else from DRM-stripping, I will have no problem in carrying through should the need arise. (Such as B&N actually saying goodbye in a year or three.) Until then, DRM-stripping for me is just a theoretical/philosophical exercise.
I don't advocate that others do so, but neither do I accept self-serving pronouncements from corporations and their advocates. It's my life, my conscience, my responsability. There is only so much power over my life that I will give to any outside power regardless of how many stand behind them.
My ethics are mine, others are free to theirs.
Peace.