This entry comes about because let's say I used to know a person who was an avid downloader of cds, movies, and informative dvds. You name what you want, and he or she could get it for you, illegally that is. This person has the mentality of "it's so easy, and quite frankly, record companies have been ripping off people for years, so those companies deserve what they're getting."
Now, when you think about it, it does seem justified. But there's a couple of things wrong with this mentality. For one, this person is going against the laws of his country, which of course is a no-no. Second, when you pick it apart, it truly is stealing, which is also a no-no. Now, that seems pretty clear, right? Two major rules are being broken (so-to-say), so the answer is "no, don't download the cd even if you're getting ripped off when paying for it." So, instead of buying the cd, this person might go to youtube and listen to it there. Here's where things get hairy, thanks to the United States anal-retentive copyright laws.
Let's say someone else on YouTube uploaded this cd you wanted to buy, which is a rampant practice on YouTube. This is illegal and a violation of copyright law. By watching it, are you sinning? Because for every time you watch a video on youtube, you effectively help promote it in the user search so other people can find it. They, in turn, watch it, promote it, and the clever ones can even unencode it and get the cd for free (also a common youtube practice). At the least, watching the video might be venial, but then the ramifications are far reaching. So, you could potentially be helping someone mortally sin and not even know it! (And helping someone mortally sin is a mortal sin, right)? But the fun of discerning what isn't right and wrong with technology and copyright law doesn't stop there.
If you were a teenager growing up in the 90s, it was almost a rite of passage (and probably still is today) to make a mixtape (or mix cd). This is illegal under US Copy Right Law and not protected under fair use. (BOO!) In fact, everything that is copyrighted in the US in the past ten years has a renewable 75 year copyright on it, meaning it won't be in the public domain in your lifetime, and if it is, most companies choose to renew for another 75 years. Moreover, anything dealing with electronic media cannot be distributed as a gift to a friend or be sold. On top of that, backup copies of some types of electronic media (video games) aren't allowed because that, too, is a violation of copyright law!
Another example, I grew up with an NES, and my NES machine doesn't work anymore. However, all of my games still function. If I make NES software for my computer and encode the info from a game that I already own onto my laptop to play it, this is illegal. (Thank you Nintendo for renewing your copyright only two years after this practice became widely popular). Even though all my old favorites are available for download via the Wii, I'm paying 10$ for a game that I paid 20$ for back in 1990, and I still own a working copy of the game! Grrrrrr.
Yet another example, I have a broken understanding of Japanese, and I buy Japanese music to help maintain my listening comprehension. I wanted a cd from Japan that I tried to buy through US iTunes. It was not available. So, I switched to the iTunes Japan store, searched it, found it, pressed buy, and iTunes Japan declined me for not having Japanese money! The only way I can hear the songs is via YouTube where it has been illegally uploaded. I could just download the cd, but then again, we've already covered that. The only legal way for me to get this cd is have a Japanese pen pal buy it for me, buy it from an importing website or buy a gift card to iTunes Japan from an importing website. Grrrr again. It would be much easier to download it, but I won't because I know that it's wrong, not to mention all the gross, indecent ads these file-sharing and downloading sites are covered with.
So, what can you do regarding technology that's not going to somehow throw you into a venially or mortally sinful state? Fair Use covers educational materials, limited copies for personal use (such as digital copies of cds on your computer with no file sharing and placing the cd on your iPod, excluding video games because they have apparently a different set of copyright laws), parody, and news. That blows. Because even though there's a lot of indecent stuff out there, there is a wealth of information people could benefit from, such as the program Rosetta Stone where a person could teach himself any language he wanted. However, most of us can't afford the program at about 250$ for one language. But it's out there in cyberspace for free, and even though it's educational, it's been copyrighted, and to download it would infringe upon the copyright holder's rights and profit, and therefore, not covered under fair use.
An even though I am conscious of these things, I still don't quite feel a conversion of heart yet, nor do I feel that guilty about my adolescent days of burning mix tapes. I guess I just have to trust that I'm doing the right thing by abstaining from most of my old practices. I just wonder how many people might be aware of how technology has crept into our lives, subtly inserting small occasions of sinfulness? What do you think? Is my analysis correct or are copyright laws so ridiculous that they are unreasonable, freeing us from having to follow them?
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