Recently some guys from church started going back and forth on The Pirate Bay which then branched off into talks about the music industry, law, and ones walk with God. This post is essentially just me throwing my 2¢ worth in. I’m going to break this down into sections and go through it piece by piece so that I won’t leave anything out. Want to make sure you get all two cents worth. 
The Pirate Bay
I’m not entirely sure what the motives for TPB are right now. Last I heard they were bought out by some company, which doesn’t make sense to me. What I do know, is that according to some of their old blog posts, the reason they stuck around after being jailed, sued, etc was to prove a point; that entertainment industry companies from the USA can’t dictate the laws of other countries. To further prove that point, a while back the servers that host TPB were moved to an undisclosed location. So undisclosed that even the owners don’t know where they are. My understanding is that this effectively put them out of the reach of the entertainment industry. Not only were the owners in a country where it was legal to run such a site, the servers were also in a country where it is legal. Of course these entertainment industry companies that refuse to evolve aren’t happy. So for the last year or so, they’ve been threatening companies that provide bandwidth to TPB and occasionally managing to scare one causing TPB to go down for a few hours. More on these companies later. But in short, TPB, to my knowledge, operations within the laws of their respective countries. Technically they operate within the laws of the US as well, since all they do is provide a tracking service. They don’t, IMHO, violate any of the indirect, or secondary, forms of liability that the courts have made up established.
Bit Torrents
The bit torrent protocol has gotten a bad rap due to ignorance on many people’s part. So, pay attention here. Bit torrent files in and of themselves are not illegal. It’s just a highly efficient system for moving large and/or numerous files. For example, I’m currently seeding some files for the Fedora Linux distro and a indie movie about how messed up our patient system is, both of which are totally legal. If Hollywood had any sense they would embrace this format as it would allow them to run sites like Hulu without the bandwidth overhead that they’re paying for now. But, again, they refuse to evolve.
Is file sharing legal?
This is the easy part, if you’re in the US then it’s illegal. Unless you own the copyright or the person(s) who do have given you permission, don’t do it.
Is file sharing moral/ethical?
This is the not so easy part. Some would hasten to say that if it’s illegal then you shouldn’t do it. It’s all cut and dry. I, of course, disagree. While what’s legal and what’s right do tend to coincide, that’s not always the case. Two arguments are commonly presented against file sharing and I want to touch on both of them.
1. It’s theft. When you download that song, you are stealing.
I disagree. If I walk into a convenience store, grab a candy bar, and leave without paying for it, it’s theft. I just made it impossible for that store to sell that candy bar to someone else. My actions have a clearly defined effect on the store. But, if I go online and grab a copy of a song that I want, the artist has lost nothing. S/He still has the song. And, unless I take my copy of that song and start selling it, I’m not interfering in any way with that artist’s ability to sell that song. So, no, it’s not theft. Prior to the DCMA it was legal, now it’s copyright infringement.
2. It’s illegal and as Christians we’re suppose to obey the law.
Sorry, it’s not that simple. For example, right now it’s illegal to be a Christian in a great many countries. Yet most Christian denominations have sent missionaries into those countries, knowingly breaking the law. I know of a lady who is working as a teacher in a communist country right now, just so that should could get into that country to evangelize… illegally. Another example. I know of organizations that purchase Bibles and smuggle them into countries where they are illegal. Well, maybe it’s okay to break the law when it’s to carry out the Great Commission. So how about this; the law in many places these days prohibits discrimination on basis of sexual preference. But churches still won’t hire a homosexual to work in their office. Why not? Oh, well that’s because it conflicts with our beliefs. Oh, well in that case…
I, personally, don’t feel there’s a thing wrong with file sharing. I have a number of books on my bookcase and I can share them all day long without breaking the law. Prior to the passage of the DMCA, I could do the same with any files I had on my computer.
What changed? Technology.
What didn’t change? The outdated business models of the entertainment industry.
The solution? Well, for most businesses the solution would have been to adapt. The entertainment industry, on the other hand, decided to put their lobbyists to work on capitol hill to get new laws passed that made things that were legal, illegal. And because they had the money and the connections, yet another of our freedoms was lost. And because of this, the DMCA conflicts with my beliefs.
In Closing
All that said, I don’t download or share music and video files that I don’t have the copyright to. Rather than ’stick it to the man’ by ignoring this law, I choose to be part of a vocal minority in the effort to have the laws revised and to have the RIAA and other entertainment mafia’s put down. I no longer buy any music from any record label that’s a member of the RIAA. I support organizations such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff.org) that fight against the entertainment industry in court and in Congress. And I laugh as I watch them cling to an outdated medium (CDs) while blaming the medium they should be embracing (the Internet) for the decline in sales they continue to experience.
As for the Christian Pirates of the world, the choice to download music or not is one that you’ll have to make for yourself. I consider this topic a bit of a minefield and I’ve tried to share what I know and what I believe in a clear way. If you feel that God is convicting you for doing it, then stop. If you feel that it’s ok for you to do it, then at least have the sense not to post about it online. Are you trying to get sued by the entertainment industry?
Recommended Reading:
The EFF’s list of articles, news, white papers and more on file sharing:
http://www.eff.org/issues/file-sharing
List of record labels I think you should boycott:
http://riaa.org/aboutus.php?content_selector=aboutus_members
