Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
If that means breaking the law (and I'm not for a moment suggesting that you are), that brings up the question of whether we have a moral right to break laws that we disagree with.
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and that's the rub Harry. There are so many gray areas that abound within law, especially regarding digital content, that many chose to read in what they will. As for what's legal or not, most laws that come into effect regarding copyright and digital content aren't necessarily to protect the original creators so much as to ensure companies can capitalize on the laws as much as possible (who do you think funds the people who put the laws into stone?).
Here's an exercise in thought regarding laws, suppose you're a citizen of a country where it's not legal to convert your paper content into a digital format. Later in life you choose to move to a country, and become a citizen of said country, where there exists no such law. For that matter, said country does not accept many so-called international laws concerning copyright, so it is freely legal in that country to convert what you want. While you have been brought up in a country where it's been *morally* wrong to do such a thing, you now live in a country where it isn't. Who's to say you're wrong for doing such a thing now?
For that matter, I've been to countries where you can freely buy disks and DVD's full of computer software, music, and videos well within the legal constraints of that country. While you may not be able to legally bring the purchased goods into your original country, you paid for them in a country where it was legal to do so. Do you just take a loss and throw them away? I'm not advocating piracy in the least, I'm merely pointing out that in some countries there are no laws limiting what is considered to be piracy in other countries.
