I know this guy used the phrase "open source" completely wrong, but lets just ignore that really quickly. My immediate reaction was "bullshit, I was in to piracy way before I was in to open source." I'm actually far more responsible with intellectual property now that I'm in to the whole open source thing. Instead of "stealing" software I can't afford I just track down an open source alternative (that's usually better). I no longer pirate closed source software, I just avoid it whenever possible. I haven't pirated any software since I switched to open source, so clearly OSS *prevents* rather than promotes piracy... for me anyway.
The title of the article suggests that open source leads to piracy, but, as we all know, correlation =! causation. Piracy and open source are both based on a recognition of the failures of IP. Many technologically astute members of my generation (those raised with the internet at least starting as teenagers) grew up in a culture of "share everything"/"everything is free" and therefore often reject IP as absurd. Our kids didn't need to know all the good mp3/warez sites, they've grown up with broadband, youtube, and instant access to everything.
The article could have as easily been labeled "Novelist, who completely fails to graps technological and cultural developments, complains about kids on lawn."
