Are you eligible to vote? Can you run for Congress? Can you get involved in politics? If yes, that’s the power you have. In America, laws aren’t imposed, they are implemented via a democratic process, and that’s what gives them moral weight. Maybe in your country if things are different you might have a point.
To your PS, I do believe companies break the law, and I complain just as much when they do. IMO anyone pirating content, on some perceived notion that they are acting ethically, lose all standing to complain about lawbreaking by corporations or others who may rationalize breaking the law under their own ethical framework (e.g. it’s ethical to break the law if it means more profit for myself).
That’s a mismatch between how you want the world to work and how the world actually works. If you realize companies are going to ignore the law then getting update about it is no more rational than complaining about gravity.
> In America, laws aren’t imposed, they are implemented via a democratic process
Being the outcome of a democratic process doesn’t somehow prevent them from being imposed. As to voting or running for congress, residents of DC elect a non voting member of congress which has exactly as much power as you might imagine. They then can’t create local laws without approval from the members of congress who can actually vote.
Congratulations, you are a member of the least democratic democracy in the world today. So even by your standards it’s laws have no moral weight.
All I’m hearing are justifications and rationalizations for lawlessness and selfishness. At least corporations are transparent about their motives - greed. With piracy, the pretzels people twist themselves into in order to justify their actions are astounding to me. Why can’t any of there pirates here admit they are just selfish and feel like they are above the law? At least it would be honest.
There is nothing selfish in doing things that harm nobody. I am very much in favor of abolishing copyright because of the vast harm it causes society rather than any personal benefit. When Disney appropriates old stories and adds a feel good spin people get even further from reality and the valuable lessons these stories could actually teach. Now magnify that across every medium and it’s no wonder people have become so utterly divorced from reality.
Trying to dismiss arguments without backing them up just shows how hollow your argument is.
You have decided for yourself that what you are doing doesn’t harm anybody, which is very convenient for you. Others have decided that’s not the case, and went through the democratic process to enshrine their position into law. As far as I’m concerned, their position is far more legitimate than yours, because they followed the law and Constitution. You, on the other hand, rationalize lawlessness and selfishness and do whatever you want.
I’m actually in favor of drastically limiting copyright. But when pirates engage in such lawless behavior and rationalizations, it makes the idea almost impossible as a credible political project. Piracy does far more harm to reforming copyright than you apparently can see. You’ll never be able to build a political coalition through insolence. Because I can guarantee you, the insolence doesn’t end even if copyright was successfully reformed to meet your expectations. Pirates would still engage in piracy, because it’s never been about principles; it’s about pirates not wanting to pay money for things they want. They would still rationalize their behavior with self-serving notions like “I’m not hurting anyone”.
You seem to be under the mistaken assumption that I pirating anything when I don’t. I have a well justified moral argument which you again try to ignore.
I don’t want to reform copyright I want to end it because the harm exists if copyright is for 70 years or 70 days the same incentives exist. Look at divorce rates for an idea of just how harmful copyright is.
As to the law being some meaningful moral guideline read up on civil asset forfeiture or slavery both of which where enshrined by the near democratic institutions you hold up as somehow an arbiter of what is just.
People enshrined slavery into law as well, and that law was unethical even before it was overturned. Your argument easily fails, no matter how many times you repeat it.
To your PS, I do believe companies break the law, and I complain just as much when they do. IMO anyone pirating content, on some perceived notion that they are acting ethically, lose all standing to complain about lawbreaking by corporations or others who may rationalize breaking the law under their own ethical framework (e.g. it’s ethical to break the law if it means more profit for myself).