Some words on morality
This is for the "copyright infringement is wrong!" crowd.

There are two latin terms I really like: malum in se and malum prohibitum. Malum in se means "wrong in itself" or wrong because it is wrong. Included in this category would be things like murder, assault, lying, etc. Not everything that is Malum in se is illegal. For example, most people would agree that lying to your spouse is wrong(immoral), but I have never heard of any laws against it.

Malum prohibitum means "wrong because it is prohibited" or wrong because it is illegal. Speeding, fishing without a license, and illegal residency all fall into this category. So does copyright infringement. So (and I'm going to use italics to emphasize this) the only moral argument that carries any weight at all in regards to copyright infringement is that it is wrong because it is illegal.

Two arguments immediately come to mind when I ponder the moral implications of violating copyright. The first is "if you believe in obeying the law, then you should respect copyright." That's a toughie. It's hard to refute it because it takes the same approach as a parent saying "Because I said so." I hate that response. I am making every effort to keep from using that with my kids. You can't refute it because it is not an argument. It's an ultimatum that you have to either accept or reject. I reject it. If you want me to obey copyright law, you better have some darn good reasons. Sony's desire to control "Spider-man 2" for the next 95 years doesn't count.

The other argument is easy. "If you infringe copyright you are stealing!" A direct application of malum in se if ever I saw one. Only problem is that it depends on a fiction. It depends on treating so-called intellectual property the same as honest to goodness physical property. Rule #1 for discussing copyright issues: Any analogy that compares physical property with intellectual property will fail. It has to. If I go too deep into this, I'll have enough material for another post.

Comments are always welcome!

- posted by Dave @ 10:13 AM