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Comment by kick | Hacker News Reader

Illegal does not equal immoral; copying does not equal stealing.

Piracy of songs, movies, and applications actually improves sales, according to a study that the European Union funded and then tried to keep from getting published:

https://gizmodo.com/the-eu-suppressed-a-300-page-study-that-...

The law shouldn't guarantee you a successful business model. If you believe in capitalism, this should be self-evident. If you believe in socialism, this should also be self-evident. "We're going to enforce with a military your right to a successful business model" is absolutely silly and bizarrely harmful.

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> Piracy of songs, movies, and applications actually improves sales, according to a study that the European Union funded and then tried to keep from getting published:

I never understand this argument at all.

Piracy of X improves sales of X is only relevant if you're keeping the business model of selling X.

It's an argument for small amounts of piracy not substituting for market demand in a meaningful amount, and possibly spurring increased market demand.

It's not an argument for it not being stealing, or against having an IP legal framework at all. If you remove the ability to sell things, there will be no sales for it to spur.

Also, only the most extreme liberterian capitalists believe in capitalism without any commercial regulations whatsoever. Literally the bare minimum is property rights.

If you remove the ability to sell things, there will be no sales for it to spur.

Books were sold long before intellectual property laws existed. Your argument is fallacious.

"Piracy of songs, movies, and applications actually improves sales, according to a study that the European Union funded and then tried to keep from getting published"

doesn't mean anything. it's still illegal.

People are arguing for what should be, not what is. In that context it doesn't matter what happens to be illegal right now. Laws do change over time - and intellectual property is a relatively recent invention compared to normal property.

If something is beneficial for everyone involved, why should it be illegal?

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