Quote:
Originally Posted by BadBilly
Ah! Here is the problem. You have copyright law backwards in your mind. Society has granted creators limited control over the works to reward and encourage creation. Before copyright law, anybody was free to copy anything as they wished. Any rights creators have are because they were given to them. They did not start out with complete control and have that whittled away over the years.
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Before the printing press it was not cheap to make a copy. Before the internet it was not free. So while at one time it was legal to copy it wasn't actually free.
Copyright was meant to balance things out and encourage creation. Legal or not, I do not think I have a right to take something for nothing against the rights holders will. Those that feel otherwise, that is thier choice.
On a far larger scale, the government of China can and does legally coopt an entire village despite protesters setting themselves on fire.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/09/wo...anted=all&_r=0
Legal or not, I question whether it is at all ethical or right in either case.