And ethically required until businesses show that they can behave.
I agree completely. I usually also include that part in my soap box speech about the evils of media companies and copyright law but forgot this time.
Supporting companies that lobby to suppress the public domain is bad because it stifles artistic expression and creativity.
- It jeopardizes our culture heritage and hinders preservation of any works that are no longer commercially viable.
- It reduces the incentives for new, creative work and instead incentivizes churning out endless remakes and sequels.
- It allows media monopolies to form that seek rent on old content instead of creating new art.
- It leads to the destruction of local expression and culture since a few mega media outfits in LA, NYC, etc direct global taste.
- It leads to these outfits using their large influence to push propaganda and the most unwholesome, addictive content to keep you dependent on your content and willing to support whatever narrative they want out of you for their political purposes.
Don't give money to those who hate you and try to milk you like a cow.
If I made a movie and Netflix paid me to show it, is it morally justified for you to make a copy of and then give out my movie for free without giving me any money?
I didn't know that Netflix hosts porn now...
But seriously, yes I think making copies and sharing is fine. Introducing artificial scarcity does not make the world a better place, and business models that resolve around creating monopolies shouldn't be encouraged. Plenty of art, science, commerce, and inventions occurred before trademarks, copyrights, patents, etc, and plenty more would be created today and in the future.
If we had reasonable reform to these laws I wouldn't go as far to say that citizens have an ethical responsibility to "pirate" the content you created--just that doing so is not wrong--but the current regime has shifted so far out of balance "piracy" is one of the few forms of civil disobedience available that works to push back.
That's all good and well within their rights whatever.
What pisses me off is when they play games like making the content free, waiting for people to share it and then locking it behind a wall like this. You're basically making me act rudely on your behalf.