Photo: Patron reading books at City Lights Bookstore, North Beach, San Francisco, California
Right or Wrong? Stealing, borrowing, retribution, ease, or simply, “everybody does it.” Where would you fall on the morality scale?? Examlpe, you check out a book or a CD from a public library. You make 5 copies that you give to friends, before returning the original copy back to the library. Have you done anything wrong?
I often have quite extensive and passionate discussions about copyright with various people. One of my best friends has somewhat opposing views to myself, so my conversations with him have been particularly enthusiastic. Recently, a column by David Pogue about the Generational Divide in Copyright Morality sparked just such an enthusiastic response and diversity of opinions. While not photo specific, it is quite relevant, and one of the better ‘conversations’ I’ve read on the subject in quite some time. It definitely is worth some time to read through a sampling of the replies.
I don’t judge other people about their decisions, but I have met some people (adults) that say they haven’t bought music in 5+ years. I’m sure that the younger generation is even worse and some will probably never buy a CD. My own philosophy on that is that they probably weren’t serious music fans to begin with. If you truly enjoy something then you will buy it.