The DMCA, of course, is not encouraging of piracy. It requires the endorsement of anti-circumvention measures such as the Rovi copy protection system. It condemns the circumvention of protections as an illegal act. The safe harbor
I believe that downloading or sharing copyrighted works or information can be ethical, but it depends on the situation. I have no problem with people downloading digital copies of works that they already own. This of course applies to movies, but also extends to things such as old video games and emulated games. I do not buy the “sampling” argument as a legitimate excuse, as I believe that it would be a slippery slope. Once you have it and enjoy it, why acquire it legitimately? Where this argument becomes interesting is in sharing content that you own, either digitally or in another medium. No one would have a problem with someone lending their copy of a DVD to a friend, but is providing someone a digital copy also ethical? I believe that it is, as what that person does with it once you provide it is not in the provider’s hands. Assuming that the provider has a reasonable belief that this person will act ethically and return or destroy the media once finished, it would be ethical for them to share it.
In high school, we participated in a program where every student had a tablet computer (in the days when tablet meant you could draw on the screen with a pen) to use for classes to take notes and complete assignments. These computers were naturally also used for entertainment, and games could often spread quickly through the student body. Oftentimes, they would be free games, such as Bloons. Other times however, they were paid games. Frankly, I don’t know where I stand on the ethicality of this. I do not think that many students would have paid for the games, so I do not think there is much lost business here. If anything, it was good publicity for the development studios, and I would hope they gained some new life-long fans from the sharing. On the other hand, the software was often distributed in a very care free manner, which didn’t quire feel right to me.
At the end of the day, I do not believe that piracy is a major problem today. I agree with the mindset that has been shared by many writers online in the last few years – that those who pirate movies or software are not really lost sales. The people who are pirating movies would not have paid for the same movie, so there is not a lost sale here. Further, they are serving as more advertising for the work, as they will see it and tell friends. Jeff Bewkes, CEO of Time Warner Cable, has a similar mindset, saying “Our experience is, it all leads to more penetration, more paying subs, more health for HBO, less reliance on having to do paid advertising… that’s better than an Emmy” (http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/01/24/whatever-happened-to-the-war-on-piracy/#773e24e47820). Furthermore, as mainstream streaming services make content easier to access, I believe that piracy will decrease. The accessibility factor is very important for many casual pirates, as a simple download is much easier than a drive to a store or waiting for a package to arrive. I know I personally would be generally more inclined to pay for a work than to pirate it if it were easy to acquire, through a Netflix type service, instead of requiring me to go to the store to find it.
kosercseethics 