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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   33461 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of April 24, 2023

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Not really, no. I'm not a utilitarian. I'm not all that interested in heading down that road though, because we're presumably going to disagree at a base level about whether utility-increasing theft is morally permissible, and that's not likely to be a bridgeable disconnect. I'll grant that if I accept the framework that utility-increasing theft is permissible then theft of intellectual property that one would never have otherwise purchased is even more permissible and is actively morally righteous. My point in the above post is that such a framework encourages rationalization and that people are very good at self-delusion; people who certainly could buy something and apparently do want to consume it can find that they wouldn't have been willing to pay for it, so grabbing the pirated copy is fine.

In the case of the proverbial poor Indian kid, I still think they're stealing, but I sympathize much more with their behavior (as they'll be deprived of the experience and have no path to compensating the owern of the IP) than the middle-class American that just doesn't want to pay for other people's work when they can steal it instead.

This is my view: That poor Indian kid is stealing but I don't give a shit, and am suspicious of anyone who does.

Do you believe that utility-increasing DMCA violation is morally permissible? If so, why, given your stance on piracy? If not, I'd like to hear your justification for why not.

I think DMCA violations are basically just stealing in the same fashion as piracy. Whether any specific example is permissible is contingent on more factors than just whether I think its stealing or not, with utility certainly being one of them.

Okay, but if you don’t want to get into the weeds of moral justification, you can’t accuse the pro-pirating side of being slow-witted and lacking justification. As to rationalizations, there’s not much to be gained from such arguments: I’m sure those who depend on IP are largely incentivized to increase their power and wealth beyond legitimate moral concerns.

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