ENOUGH! (Score 1)

Is digital piracy wrong? Sure, I was breaking the LAW when I downloaded Beck's new album from The Pirate Bay a few weeks ago, but morally, was what I did WRONG? There are many examples throughout history where disobeying unjust laws was considered (ex post facto) the morally just thing to do. In some cases it was not merely considered just, it was considered ones moral duty. The American Revolution and The Civil Rights movements come to mind. Of course, during these times in history, what a person felt was the wrong or the right side of the conflict was entirely subjective. There were people during the civil rights movement who were utterly convinced that minorities should not have the same rights as whites. Ignore the causes and misguided nature of those beliefs for a moment and focus on the fact that they were simply people who were fighting for what they believed in. History has judged them to be wrong. Just as history has judged the actions of the american revolutionaries to have been morally just. The question is, how will history judge the digital pirates? Will we be revolutionaries or racists? As with most historical perspective, how two opposing groups are viewed depends largely on the outcome of the dispute. The spoils of history belong to the victorious. Regardless of the outcome however, I have chosen my side and I will NEVER give up. DRM, lawsuits, criminal charges; NOTHING will stop me. EVER. Because to me, the war over intellectual property is not a war. It is merely a battle in a much larger conflict. The conflict between the rights of the people and the will of the corporations. I and many of us are constantly trampled by corporations. At work, at home, on the road, what we eat drink and breathe, how much our money is worth and what we can and can't do with our lives. It is all controlled by corporations who abuse that power according to their own greed. So when I downloaded that album illegally, its not just a rallying cry against copyrights and DRM, its a rage against ALL corporations and ALL that they do to us. We have so little to fight back against this onslaught of corporate fascism with that we will seize onto any little crack, any little chink in corporate America's armor and fight them there. And while the corporations may win the war, they will almost certainly lose this battle because they fail to realize that this isn't just about music and movies and getting things for free, this is about fighting back in any way we can against the larger enemy. Its not about the price of a movie ticket, its about anybody who ever got fucked over by some company taking a little bit of their dignity back in the only way they can. The Boston Tea party wasn't about tea and taxes and the East India Trading Company, it was about FREEDOM. And it was about fighting back against a much larger adversary when and where you could. So until the day comes where the corporations iron grip has been broken, I will continue to fight them any way I can. I will take every opportunity to strike back no matter how small, no matter how insignificant. Even if that means illegally downloading the new Beck album. Which is a very good album actually. Now where can I mail Beck the $.01 he would have gotten from my purchase?