Piracy is theft, Period. Obviously our faith does not support the infringement of the law unless the law is in direct violation of scripture. I really can't find a place in scripture that would negate the legality of Intellectual Property Rights. Much to my shame, I've used the Pirate Bay in the past. I was very, very wrong to do so. It's nothing short of a violation of the 8th Commandment. I sinned. I repented. I don't steal software anymore. I was never in to pirating music, since it's so cheap on iTunes.

Blessings,
Tony

Yeah, I don't think there's any wiggle room in this, exactly as tony says. Most of us here, especially when 'sharing' first started online, probably took some part in stealing software/music online and tried to justify it. Hopefully, most have recognized this as behavior not good for a Christian to engage in (just as you say, Tony) and have turned away.

Personally, the first time I was able to legally buy music on iTunes, my eyes were opened. I realized this wasn't 'sharing' but stealing and that there were legal venues to obtain the same stuff just as easily.

It's a good point of discussion, but one I feel is probably pretty darn black and white for those in the faith.

(Just one side note to Zach...I almost deleted this whole post, thinking it was spam (instead I just removed all the content and left the link). Please just link to offsite content instead of reposting entire articles...that way our moderators won't mistake it as spam...thanks!)

+1 on the stealing.

But has anyone considered seeding a sermon series? When napster first came out, I contacted a bunch of pastors (those I had archived sermons for) and asked them if I could share their stuff on napster and I got a pretty favorable response - only one refused permission and some weren't sure what napster was.

Torrents are notorious not only for music, but porn, videos and a ton of other "seedy" stuff. So, why not approach pastors about seeding a sermon series? Who knows, someone looking for the latest porn movie, might stumble upon a series on porn and commit their life to Christ.

1 Cor 9:22 "...so that by all possible means I might save some..."

First - I am generally in agreement that if there is copyright law protecting the content and you are taking it without the copyright holders permission than it is stealing. In Canada the copyright laws are different and it creates this gray area that we Canadians argue over - ultimately it comes down to individual convictions.

Let me pose another question? If a friend drops by your house with a cool CD (say Michael Jackson) would you slide it into your laptop and rip it to your iTunes Library? Does this break the copyright law or your convictions?

Ok - one more question? What about over the air TV shows - say you missed the last episode of "The Big Bang Theory" - if it is distributed over the air freely is it ok to download/share?

--stirring the pot...

First, Michael Jackson hasn't been cool since 1986ish. Personally, I don't like ripping stuff that I haven't purchased (unless I have express permission like from pastors) same with torrents.

Second, tv shows are sort of a gray area since they are publicly broadcast and we do record shows to watch later. My personal conviction is that unless I record the show, I'm not going to use torrents to download it. It'll come out on dvd in a few months anyway and I can get caught up or use HULU.com to catch up.

Third, Big Bang Theory rocks.

@BishopBooyah -

First, Michael Jackson hasn't been cool since 1986ish.

I never thought he was cool - it was pure mockery :D

...and yes... Big Bang Theory is made for us Geeks!

No it is NOT ethical or legal to get TV Shows from the Pirate Bay or any other file-sharing service. Yes, it's a public broadcast, but the network bought and paid for the rights to air the show, and also in most cases, hold certain re-broadcast rights as well. After that period ends, distribution rights revert to the creator of the content, the production company. They then get to re-sell the material in syndication, or as a DVD, etc...

That being said, the current model of free tv is about to collapse on itself... it can't be sustained in a world with DVRs. But that's another thread.

as for sermons, i like what SermonPlayer has to offer. I am sure you are all familiar, but they offer a free audio/video sermon centralized respository where you can post your sermons so that..

1. you can post a "player" on your website so folks can listen/watch/download sermons
2. anyone who stumbles across SermonPlayer on the Net can listen/watch/download

is it napster? no. but it gets the Word out and is free (Amen for free).

I hadn't heard of SermonPlayer before - that is a great idea!

In this case it seems that the Pastor would be giving permissions for use...

If you have permission, don't underestimate the witnessing ability of something like piratebay. If people are stealing music, movies, or just downloading porn, seeding a sermon series on porn (or a bible study, or a good solid gospel message) might just hit someone where they're at.

There are plenty of Christians hooked on porn and, while browsing piratebay, might get convicted because of the sermon seed or even seeing a seed itself.

However, I must stress that you should definitely get permission before seeding. Some pastors would absolutely refuse to be associated with an organization that promotes theft and that's quite understandable. That's why when one pastor didn't give me his permission to post on napster, I respected that. But I did get a lot of positive response from the things I was sharing.

@BishopBooyah - interesting idea! xxxchurch should make a video with a sleazy title and then have it be a video about breaking free from porn - would be interesting. Would love to read the comments on that torrent :)

It seems like the most of you are lost in what file-sharing is. Actually, the problem is that the most people have not found out. They may think it is basically downloading, downloading and downloading. I would say that file-sharing is something else, I would say that it is basically uploading, but sadly, I don't think that many Christians act in that way. If you disconnect the act of, let's say submitting torrent-links to The Pirate Bay and keeping these links alive, then you are just a simple person out there for your own pleasure.
If there was possible to find lots of Christians that is out there for reaching the poor. (1 Cor 9:12,18)

Interesting comment here by Fredson, I'm not sure what to make of it. In once sense, he makes a good point (in general) about Christianity: It's about giving, not taking...if you're just taking then it's wrong.

But, if we're talking even remotely about file 'sharing'...it's the "giving" that is where the most illegal/immoral activity is. By being the one who uploads files, you're the one ripping the media and distributing it, thereby you're the one who's breaking the law. Those who are downloading are simply taking advantage of your law-breaking. So, in this specific case, it's almost better to take than give :) (although both are, without question illegal and wrong).

But hidden in his comment was, I thought, an interesting point.

Especially in videos. The betamax decision by the US supreme court said time shifting (recording something you have a right to view in order to view it later) is, in fact, legal in the US. Hence watching (but not keeping) an episode of your favorite show has elements of grey in it.

As for the CD, there's another interesting bit of grey. In the US, it is completely legal for you to make a cassette copy of a CD you own and give that copy to a friend (or more than one friend, for that matter). That was the price the RIAA paid for being able to collect a royalty from the manufacturers for every single blank cassette sold in the US, whether it will contain copyrighted material or just a serviceman's letter home. You can't do that with a digital recorder, only an analog one. Which means you *could* record the CD to cassette, then digitally record the cassette into your computer for an MP3 file, but you couldn't go directly from CD to computer. Napster tried to hide behind that law (after all, we're only sharing with a few million of our closest friends) but the court ruled the provision applied only to analog recording media, not to digital-to-digital recordings.

Linux users have it worst of all. Even watching a DVD movie on a linux box is illegal in the US, IIRC, because there is no legal DVD descrambler available for Open Source.

As for me, I pretty much stopped buying or otherwise acquiring recorded music after the DMCA was passed. I refuse to contribute money to the thugs in the RIAA, and I'm ashamed that most Christian record labels are part of that organization. Yes, that means I don't support Christian artists, either. Or at least those who by their choice of record label support the RIAA's right to sue people who don't even own a computer (http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/06/24/riaa...) or for that matter, people who aren't even alive (http://www.betanews.com/article/RIAA-Sues-Deceased...). Then there's the lovely case where they sued the mother, who refused to settle, so they decided to sue her kids instead (http://www.betanews.com/article/RIAAs-Suit-Against...). I could go on, but I think I made my point. Thievery is wrong, even when the RIAA does it.

It's really hard to respect or support musicians who participate in a system with "enforcers" like that.

Yes, it's a subject I'm passionate about.

Arlen,
I really admire your stance on this whole thing...I think it's totally valid and I think even admirable as a Christian stance. This is where I find Christianity lacking, oftentimes: Standing up against the RIAA because of unfair practices is just as "christian" as singing Amazing Grace with all your heart in church...but today's church doesn't see it that way.

Bravo for standing up to unfair issues (especially when it's hard)!