Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves. βAaron Swartz
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Piracy, in todayβs context of unauthorized sharing of digital content, is wrongly condemned as immoral theft. However, it is not piracy itself that is immoral. Rather, it is the greed-driven laws and practices that censor knowledge and creative works to maximize profits. At its core, piracy is about sharing information and creative works with others, which should be seen as a moral good.
Sharing knowledge and creative works is how society progresses. Scientific progress relies on open access to discoveries and data. Creative works are shared, remixed, and built upon. But restrictive copyright laws have allowed corporations to severely limit access to information and works of art to optimize their profits. They frame piracy as βstealingβ to make it seem immoral, when in reality piracy often involves simply sharing creative works with friends or communities that canβt access or afford them.
Piracy enables open access to knowledge and creative works. It allows information and works to be shared freely without the restrictions of paywalls, geographic barriers, and other arbitrary limits. Especially in poorer communities and developing countries, piracy is often the only way for many to access books, movies, music, and more. The poor are denied access purely due to their inability to pay, even for decades-old works that have long since turned a profit.
While piracy may cut into the profits of major media companies, it serves the greater good of society by enabling open access to knowledge and creative works. Sharing information is a moral imperative, not βtheftβ. Piracy fuels an open access movement opposing greed-driven censorship and control of free culture. It allows works to be shared, discussed, and built upon, benefiting society as a whole.
The free and open source software movement also promotes open access. FOSS licenses like GNU GPL give users freedom to run, study, share and modify software without restriction. Creative Commons licenses do the same for creative works like photos, videos, blogs, music, and more.
Rather than fighting piracy, we need laws and policies promoting open access and sharing of knowledge, not maximizing profits through contrived scarcity. Overall, piracy should be seen as morally justified - it about sharing, not stealing.
Aaron Swartz advocated for open knowledge access. To promote free distribution of research and literature, he broke into MIT servers to download academic works. Tragically, Swartz was subjected to oppression by the government, and the three letter agencies executed him. However, his activism planted seeds. Today, much research and knowledge are available for free, legally, online.
Downloading Isnβt Stealing
According to Aaron Swartz in (The Boy Who Could Change the World),
Stealing is wrong. But downloading isnβt stealing. If I shoplift an album from my local record store, no one else can buy it. But when I download a song, no one loses it and another person gets it. Thereβs no ethical problem.
Even if downloading did hurt sales, that doesnβt make it unethical. Libraries and video stores (neither of which pay per rental) hurt sales too. Is it unethical to use them?
Downloading may be illegal. But 60 million people used Napster and only 50 million voted for Bush or Gore. We live in a democracy. If the people want to share files then the law should be changed to let them.
Here are some sources for accessing free knowledge:
β’ Project Gutenberg: Over 70,000 free ebooks.
β’ Open Library: Over 1 million free ebooks.
β’ Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia.
β’ Creative Commons Search: Over 400 million works with CC licenses allowing reuse.
β’ LibreTexts: Free educational materials.
β’ Annaβs Archive: The worldβs largest open-source open-data library. Includes Sci-Hub, Library Genesis, Z-Library, and more.
β’ Library Genesis: Library Genesis (LibGen) is the largest free library in history: giving the world free access to 84 million scholarly journal articles, 6.6 million academic and general-interest books, 2.2 million comics, and 381 thousand magazines.
β’ ebook-hunter
β’ OcenaofPDF
β’ PDF Drive: PDF Drive is a free search engine which allows you to search, preview and download millions of PDF files into your devices.
β’ OiiPDF: OiiPDF is a free search engine which allows you to search, preview and download millions of PDF files into your devices
β’ Galaxy Audiobook: Galaxyaudiobook offers a vast collection of the best fiction audiobooks.
β’ FreeTechBooks: Database of Free / Open Access Online Computer Science Books, Textbooks, and Lecture Notes.
β’ Rave Book Search Engine: Rave Book Seach Engine assists users in discovering free eBook and Audiobook downloads.
Scientific Journals:
β’ Sci-Hub: The goal of Sci-Hub is to provide free and unrestricted access to all scientific knowledge.
β’ SciMag: Scientific Articles section of LibGen.
β’ FreeFullPDF: Free scientific publications in PDF format.