Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben Thornton
My point is that there is a rational moral position that one could adopt in support of using the darknets to obtain material that nobody is prepared to sell you. We can debate whether that position is the best one to adopt or not, but I think it unreasonable to belittle it as childish, or as craving justification for known naughtiness.
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It is not easy to argue morality in this venue. I'm not going to try and develop my moral position from certain first premises, or talk about when piracy becomes civil disobedience (which would require the determination that the publisher's current behavior is immoral). We could argue forever.
I'll just say that it is not my experience that most of the material available via the DarkNet is "orphaned" or no longer available by any other means. Much of the books, music, movies, etc, that can be downloaded gratis can also be purchased. And most of the people downloading simply prefer not to pay.
People want what they want, in whatever form they want it. And they want it now. For free.