Just thought I'd start a thread about this!
Definition of piracy/pirating:
To make use of or reproduce (another's work) without authorization.
I do it sometimes, more than that's actually good.. Usually I only do it with music, but so now and then a movie. Usually I just watch movies online, but if I download the movie I can watch it on our big screen which is nicer.
When I was a teenager, back in the last quarter of the 20th century, I was, indeed, guilty of pillaging, looting and otherwise pirating copyrighted music. I knew it was wrong, but I managed to find a way of justifying it. I lived in a small town that had only one small Christian book store, which had only very few Christian records. (For you young folks, records are those big black CD's you may have seen pictures of. Ask your grandparents and maybe they can show you some.) Because of the small size of the book store and the small number of Christians, there was usually only one of each record available. Whoever bought a certain record would make copies of it for his friends on cassette tapes (ask your grandparents). The way I figured it was that since I was unable to buy the record legally, nobody was really losing any money. Also, I intended to buy those records I had copies of if I ever got the chance.
I don't make illegal copies of music any more. There is more Christian book stores where I live today and each has more music available than that one store 30 years ago. Also, today I have the Internet and can purchase whatever I want to, so I have no excuse for pirating any more.
Making copies of otherwise unavailable music (the same would apply to movies) might be excusable, but nobody with access to the Internet and a credit card can really claim that excuse. Illegally downloading copyright protected works simply because you don't want to pay for them is a clear violation of the law and is therefore something Christians should not do.
The TOG
